A Light from the Shadows
by shade hunter
Summary: wily has stolen a new machine that just might be the end of rockman. though help can come from the least likly of places. my first fic pls rr rated for violence and gore finished
1. the mission

Disclaimer: don't own wily megaman or any of the other characters in this story they all belong to capcom not me so don't sue me  
  
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Hi all shade hunters the name fanfiction is my game. This is my first fic (which I writing to see how good I am) and I would appreciate any and all reviews, good or bad. I need to know what you guys think, and, if people like it, ill make more chapters. And now without further adue I present you with  
  
A Light from the Shadows  
  
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Prologue: The Mission  
  
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The robot walked through the empty halls with his partner. His, feet padded with wrappings, made no sound though his partners feet were bare and made a clanking noise every time they hit the metal floor of the museum.  
  
The robot had black wrappings on his head made of a durable super fabric on back of it his gauntlets, leg bracers, and chest plate were all a dark blue with a dark tarnished looking silver lining, and his shoes were padded with the same fiber on the bottom to prevent noise when walking. The rest of his body was covered with the same black fabric as his head wrappings. No part of his body was uncovered save his wicked ice blue eyes. In his right hand he carried a rather large ninja throwing star. His name was shadow man.  
  
He stopped in a large archway separating a room from the hall and looked at his partner. He had red boots and gloves with gold trim and on his right glove there was a small launcher for his signature weapon. He wore in a red chest plate with gold trim that had a large gold boomerang painted on it. His helmet was also red with gold ear plates and a long gold boomerang on his forehead. Every other part of his body was a dark gray Finally on his back there was a gigantic boomerang he could detach in case of emergencies and could even be used in close combat to slice enemies in two. He was quick man.  
  
"What's the hold up?" he asked? "I wanna get this over with and get out of here. The less time with you the better"  
  
"Must you be so loud?" shadow man asked" master wily said to not attract attention. Try to walk a little softer"  
  
"grr is that the only reason you stopped me? Common I don't even see why I was put on a mission like this, especially with the likes of you."  
  
"I don't see why you were put on it either" shadow man mocked, " a mission like this requires far to much skill for your likes"  
  
"What did you say?" quick man shouted angrily  
  
"I said you couldn't keep the guards from hearing even if there weren't any!" shadow man retorted  
  
"You want a piece of me shadow boy?" quick man said taking a step toward shadow man  
  
"Hah you wouldn't last two seconds with me" the bandaged robot master taunted taunted  
  
"O ya? Well why don't we find out!" The red robot shouted as he brought up his quick launcher and aimed it at shadow man  
  
Before he had a chance to fire at him a voice crackled through their communicators  
  
They heard there masters voice growl through there communicators "will you two stop this bickering. I need you two to get the parts and get out of there as soon as possible and watch out for the security, which your yells probably alerted.  
  
"We apologize master wily we will continue with the mission immediately" they both said simultaneously.  
  
"Hmpf ill embarrass you back at the fortress" shadow man said" more people to see me destroy you utterly there"  
  
"Grr when we get back you'll be begin for mercy" quick man retorted  
  
They walked through the hallway and shadow man stopped him at the doorway to the other room.  
  
"What now?" quick man snapped  
  
"Quite" shadow man whispered pulling him into the shadows" our target is in there along with about half a dozen robot guards, security cameras, and auto guns galore"  
  
"Lovely" quick man groaned" so how are we gonna do this?"  
  
"Your accurate with your big boomerang aren't you?" shadow man asked  
  
"Of course, I could hit one of your shadow blades from 100 yards away"  
  
"Good, here is the plan. I will dash out throwing shadow blades at the cameras before they get a glimpse of me. As soon as I do that the guards will be focused on me and you should be able to take them all out with one attack of your giant boomerang, if of course your as good as you say. After that we grab the machine and run. We shouldn't take time to destroy the auto guns, got it?" quick man nodded  
  
"B-" before quick man got a chance to ask his question shadow man dashed out throwing his shadow blades with amazing accuracy Damit quick man thought what if those guns shoot down my boomerang? O well no time to think now without another thought he grabbed the huge boomerang on his back and hurled it at the guards.  
  
Shi-shi-shi-shi-shi-shink the boomerang cut through all the robots like butter. It looked like his boomerang would make it back unhindered. At least until one of the auto guns fired a shot ahead of it, to quick man!  
  
He barely noticed the shot before it struck him square in the chest. The boomerang clattered as it crashed into the ground behind quick man, as he had not caught it  
  
Shit thought shadow man as he weaved through columns time to get out of here  
  
Dashing to the center of the room he grabbed the machine sitting on the pedestal and ran towards the way he had come, scooping up quick man as he ran past him and his boomerang in the hall  
  
Crap he thought he's unconscious  
  
He skidded to a halt at the end of the hall "well looks like things are about to get a lot more interesting" he said to himself as he looked at the ten robot guards in the room right in front of him.  
  
"Halt" they all cried in unison" surrender and hand over that machine at once or be destroyed"  
  
He looked down at the small machine no bigger than a pop can what the hell does this thing do anyway? He thought o well ill have to ask wily when I get back  
  
He dropped quick man and the boomerang he chuckled" so you want this back huh?" he said tossing the machine in the air and catching it  
  
"Affirmative"  
  
"And for me to surrender?"  
  
"Affirmative"  
  
"Well if you want me or the machine your gonna hafta take em!" he shouted just before he dashed towards the robots at blinding speed.  
  
With ungodly persition he sliced through the necks of two guards as he passed. As he turned he hurled the two stars in his hands at two more guards. As the guards raised their plasma pistols he dashed behind two tricking the others into shooting them  
  
"Six down six two go" BOOM three of them suddenly exploded Everyone in the room looked to see what had caused the two explode  
  
"Trying to take all the fun for yourself huh?" the now conscious quick man asked  
  
"I see your finally awake" shadow man mocked  
  
"Heh that auto gun hurt" he retorted as he dodged the shots of the three remaining guards  
  
"Im surprised you didn't leave me fore dead" he said as he ran up to the remaining three and sliced through them with his boomerang  
  
Shadow man sighed," it was tempting but master wily wouldn't have ben pleased"  
  
"Well thanks anyway I owe ya one" he said walking to him over the floor which was covered with oil and machine parts" but lets worry about that later, right now we gotta get outa here, you got the machine right?"  
  
Shadow man nodded and showed him the machine  
  
"Dam that things tiny" quick man said leaning closer to it" wonder what it does?"  
  
"No idea."  
  
Shadow man opened his mouth to say something but before he got a chance something caught his eye  
  
"Huh what is it?" quick man asked he looked to were shadow man was looking and say, sitting on a small stand, was a long katana  
  
Shadow man walked over to it  
  
"Made of diranium," he read" the strongest alloy currently known as well as the sharpest. It was used by a rebel leader to free his nation from oppression one hundred years ago. He was able to do this thanks to diraniums reflective properties. It can reflect any form of energy matter be it laser plasma or anything else that can be thought of. It is said to be unbreakable. "  
  
Shadow man grinned under his mask of bandages" think wily would mind if I stole something else?" he asked  
  
"Don't see why he would" quick man replied  
  
"Good" he said before grabbing the sword.  
  
"Well, common were almost out of the anti teleportation field and id rather not attract any more trouble"  
  
"Huh?" quick man asked" what do you mean? We still got aways to go"  
  
Shadow man snickered" heh not with my way"  
  
"Your.way?" quick man asked unsure  
  
"Ya ill show you" with that shadow man grabbed quick man by the arm and ran toward the window  
  
"Wait, your not gonna, no way, STOP" unfortunately for quick man his shadow man paid no head to his cries dove out of the window spraying glass on the world outside.  
  
As soon as they were out of the buildings anti-teleportation field shadow man activated his teleporter taking them both back to the fortress  
  
~at the fortress~  
  
"Well done both of you" an old man congratulated. He was bald and what other hair he had was gray, and as always was wearing the same white lab coat he always wore. He was doctor wily" ill be sure to give you both bonuses for this. This was a very important mission"  
  
"Master wily if I may?" shadow man asked  
  
"Yes what is it shadow man?" Wily responded  
  
"What exactly is that machine?" he asked  
  
Wily grinned" im glad you asked. This, shadow man, is what is going to help me recreate rockman. This little device is a scanner"  
  
Shadow man stared" that little thing? No way it's to small"  
  
Wily grinned" heh small but powerful. I can scan things up to a mile away with excellent precision. Of course I can't scan just anything. It was made to scan enemy weapons, or to be more specific my robots. To isolate weaknesses and so they could create more. Im going to use it for the same purpose, just against my enemies, and not there's with this I can find rockmans weakness and finally be rid of the little blue twerp. Hah ahahah MUHAHAHAHAAAAAAA"  
  
~At light labs~ Sources  
  
"rockman!" an elderly voice shouted" come quick  
  
rockman ran in he had on. He looked to be a teenage boy. He wore jeans and a dark blue t-shirt His black hair was its usual uncombed mess and his blue eyes were inhumanly large.  
  
"What is it?" he asked the man  
  
The old man was a little taller than rockman wearing a white lab coat like wily he had white hair and a white beard that would remind on of Santa Clause. Normally he could always be seen with a smile. Only when something dire happen was his face ever void of one. This was Dr. light  
  
"It's a disaster someone broke into the museum last night and stole the state of the art scanner. As well as destroyed several other things and, though we can't understand why, he stole an old sword as well.  
  
"Hmm" rockman said" there is only one person who I can think of who could use something like that"  
  
Dr. light nodded "wily" he whispered  
  
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Well what do you think? Pls review, I need reviews good and bad, and, if enough people like it, ill make more chapters. Until next time, peace 


	2. the Seeds are Sown

Disclaimer: I don't own rockman wily or any of the other characters in this story they all belong to capcom so don't sue me  
  
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welp no one reviewed so I'm gonna post a new chapter anyway (cause I want to). In this chapter I will explain what exactly the robot masters (and rockman etc) are in my perception of the series, in other words ill say whether there machines, alive, have feelings, emotionless all that good stuff. Please excuse my god-awful spelling and grammar if spell check doesn't catch it I don't. PLEASE review I need reviews. They are my lifeblood, I need them to live. And now I present you with the second installment of  
  
A Light from the Shadows  
  
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Chapter 1: The Seeds are Sown  
  
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He stood in the middle of a warehouse surrounded by pieces wires metal and circuitry. The floor was covered with blood and oil. He stood there in the panting. His bandages and cloth as well as his sword were soaked with oil and blood. His armor was cut in several places. He had several wounds from which he was dripping blood and oil alike. When he walked toward the back of the warehouse ever so quietly, his feet made a sloshing noise rather than there usual pat pat pat of cloth from the excess amount of fluids from his enemies.  
  
Two robot guards suddenly jumped out from behind crates in front of him and fired their pistols. Swinging his sword horizontally in front of him he reflected the shots back at their sources. The robots brought their arms up in an attempt to shield themselves from there own attacks. He used this chance to dash forward and made another horizontal swing cutting the both of them in two, spraying circuitry and oil on the already drenched ground next to them.  
  
"Common!" he shouted despite his injuries" is that the best you can do!? I thought you guys were made to fight!"  
  
Hearing a soft sound behind him he whirled around swinging his sword to slice the source of the noise in two.  
  
CLANG  
  
"Well well" said a familiar voice" I see your getting better with that sword of yours shadow"  
  
He stood there his armor as shiny as ever, he had obviously not yet fought anyone, and he had used his gigantic boomerang to block shadow mans sword.  
  
SHING  
  
In a circular motion the injured shadow man forced his enemies arm to the side, with the boomerang, and put his sword to his opponents throat.  
  
'Hello quick I see you taken to actually trying to sneak up on some people" he said  
  
The red robot grinned" you up for a little duel?"  
  
"In my condition?" he asked" of course"  
  
"Good"  
  
Quick man jumped backwards avoiding his opponent's blade and fired several quick blades at him and put his giant boomerang back on its resting place on his back as he went backwards. Shadow man immediately jumped up into the shadows of the ceiling avoiding the deadly blades that cut only air where he had ben only seconds before.  
  
From the shadows above him shadow blades began raining down on quick man. Fortunately for him he was fast enough to dodge the lot of them though he did get clipped a few times. After a few moments of dodging he began firing his own quick boomerangs.  
  
"Don't you think its unfair that you get the shadows to hide in?" shouted the robot from the ground  
  
"Its as fair as you fighting me wile I'm injured" a voice from the shadows above answered  
  
"Fair enough" said quick man" but I think it's about time to take away that advantage before I lose mine"  
  
Withought another word he sliced open the bottom crate in one of the piles and jumped inside, effectively shielding him from the hail of shadow blades.  
  
"Now if you want to win you have to come down and_" before he got the chance to finish a sword's blade came through the top of the crate grazing the top of his helmet.  
  
Immediately the blade was removed and stabbed into the crate again and again and again in different places each time forcing quick man to run out of the crate lest he be skewered.  
  
Unfortunately for him shadow man had ben ready for this escape attempt, and as soon as he saw quick leaving he threw two shadow blades at him, both of them hitting him in the back  
  
"GAH"  
  
Quick man stumbled forward and fell down. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a stab to the head, also getting the blades out of his back, though it did tear his flesh and circuitry a little.  
  
Getting up he got out his giant boomerang and held it with his left hand and aimed his launcher on his right hand at shadow man. Shadow man was already in a fighting stance with his left foot stepped forward and his right behind him pointing away. His arms were crossed against his chest with his right hand in front of him holding his sword ready to attack and defend and his left hand behind him holding two shadow blades ready to be thrown.  
  
They both stood there for a long while simply looking at each other. After a little wile a voice suddenly blared at them from above.  
  
"Quick man, shadow man get up here both of you I got an important mission" the voice shouted  
  
"Damit" quick man cursed" he has got the worst possible timing.  
  
"That's one thing I agree with you on" shadow man replied relaxing his stance and putting away his shadow blades" disengage virtual training simulation"  
  
Everything around them began fizzing and becoming wavy like it was from a bad television. There was a sudden flash of light and the two of them were no longer standing in a warehouse filled with crates and destroyed robots, but a large room covered in perfectly square snow white tiles, while the blood, oil, and wounds from his simulated enemies, as well as the pain, were gone. The ones from his fight with quick man remained.  
  
"Looks like we will have to finish our fight some other time" he said to the robot master standing next to him.  
  
Quick man nodded" lets go see what the old man wants," he said  
  
"Agreed"  
  
~in wily's lab~  
  
Shadow man and quick man walked into the huge room and were surprised to see many more robot masters in there. They usually worked alone or with one partner max.  
  
In the room there was napalm man, turbo man, hard man, guts man, stone man, magnet man, and elec man.  
  
"Ah good now that everyone's here we can begin." They old man said  
  
"Ok wily what job do you have for us that needs so many people?" quick asked  
  
Dr. wily grinned" a very special mission that requires everyone to do there part. Unfortunately rockman has become wise to our plans, and he now carries a small EMP generator. If the scanner is hit by that thing then it will be out for good, and im not sue I can build another."  
  
"Hey doc" quick interrupted" why do we even need to scan him don't we already have his schematics?"  
  
"We have most of them" Dr. wily replied" but unfortunately light never showed me how to build or program the weapons system"  
  
"Huh? But I thought forte had the same weapons system as him" shadow man inquired  
  
"He does" the old scientist answered" but I didn't build it. Dr light built three of the weapons systems, one he put into proto man, the third he build to put into rockman when I betrayed him. And the second one which he build after we completed proto man, I stole. I didn't want to use it right away so I hid it. I hid it as a last resort so if I ever became desperate I could put it into a robot in the future with technology superior to rockmans"  
  
"Hence forte" said elec man  
  
"Not exactly" he replied" while forte is the one I put the weapons system into it wasn't for the same reason. When I realized Dr. light had ben upgrading rockman to better fight you robot masters, I decided to create him to.even the playing field"  
  
"Id say it was already pretty uneven in our favor with all the robot masters and the huge fortress and-"  
  
WAM  
  
"Thank you guts man," his master said grinning  
  
"no problem for guts man. Guts man follow orders good" the giant robot master replied  
  
"ooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww" turbo man groaned while laying on the ground half unconscious  
  
"Now as I was saying, I decided to create forte to be rockmans rival and hopefully superior. Obviously he failed in the later part. And he even had the nerve to defy me! So I'm going to try with this new weapons system one more time."  
  
"Hey doc" quick man interrupted again  
  
He sighed" yes what is it this time quick man"  
  
"If that thing can scan him from a mile away then why don't we stay out of the EMP's range and scan him?"  
  
"Because it takes a minute to scan a met and the EMP will travel on the scanners waves, to the scanner, knocking it out anyway. And he will pick up the waves the second we turn on the machine even if he's not being hit."  
  
"So how ARE we gonna scan him?"  
  
"We will have to have him immobilized for about three minutes"  
  
"Ok.how?"  
  
Dr. wily's grin grew wider simply thinking about it" with that" he said pointing to what looked like a large metal loop about three quarters of a foot in diameter  
  
"The hells that little thing supposed to do?" the now fully conscious turbo man asked  
  
"Ill explain later" the scientist replied" now back to the plan. Oh and by the way, after this mission I will be having a tournament to see who gets the new weapons system"  
  
The robot masters all exchanged looks  
  
"And if I find that any of you have tried to destroy one another during the mission you will be scraped is that clear?" their master stated  
  
"Yes master wily" they all replied in unison  
  
"Good" he said," Now if no one has anymore questions ill continue with the mission"  
  
~later~  
  
"Alright well that is what each of you will be doing on the mission" wily stated" any questions?"  
  
When all the robot masters remained silent he continued" good then you are all to meet back here at ten o clock tomorrow morning you have the rest of the time to do what you wish you are dismissed. O and you are not to tell ANYONE about this mission. Not the other robot masters, not the robots, your not to write it down anywhere your not even to speak of it amongst yourselves is that clear?" all the robot masters nodded" good"  
  
"Hey!" quick man shouted to shadow man while catching up to him" so you wanna finish our duel now?"  
  
"How bout we finish it at the tournament?" shadow man replied  
  
Quick man grinned" sounds good to me!"  
  
"Well I must be going" shadow man said turning to walk away  
  
"Huh, hey wait where are you going?" quick man asked  
  
"To relax" he replied and without another word he walked off  
  
~later in metropolis~ (I couldn't think of a better name)  
  
A teenager of average height walked down the sidewalk. He was thin and long black hair. He wore dark blue jeans and a shirt that looked like tarnished silver.  
  
Watching him was another boy about the same hair. He also had black hair though, not as long, and wasn't quite as slim. He wore blue jeans and a light blue t-shirt.  
  
"Were have I seen him before?" he said under his breath" something's not right about him" without thinking on the matter further he got up to follow the other boy.  
  
The boy being followed made many turns and was very hard to keep up with. Finally he turned into an ally, which turned out to be a dead end. Though the boy didn't seem surprised by this.  
  
"Why are you following me?" he asked  
  
The other boy was startled" you. you knew I was following you?"  
  
"You have been ever since I passed the restaurant" he replied  
  
"Tch I thought you hadn't noticed"  
  
"You know it's amazing how convincing you look"  
  
"?!?"  
  
"Come" he said motioning for the larger boy to follow him  
  
"They went inside an abandoned building next to them  
  
"I'm surprised you didn't recognize me. Rockman."  
  
"?!? You know who I am!?"  
  
"Don't you know who I am?"  
  
Rockman shook his head  
  
"Maybe this will jog your memory," he said. He raised his hand and produced two shadow blades  
  
"SHAODW MAN!" he shouted taking a step back and forming a cannon with his right hand  
  
"Please" he said" put the cannon away, I'm not here to fight. Besides that thing gives me the creeps"  
  
Rockman remained silent for a moment with his gun still raised. Slowly he put his arm by his side and turned it back into a hand.  
  
"So what has wily sent you here to do?" he asked  
  
"Nothing"  
  
"Nothing?"  
  
"Yes nothing. I'm here on personal matters"  
  
"What kind of personal matters?" rockman asked a little worried  
  
"Well" he replied" I personally like the food at Joe's diner on Smith and Charles. And I personally like the exhibits they have in the museum. Especially the ancient ninjas, which should come as no shock to you."  
  
Rockman stood there for a moment then a smile slowly played across his face. Soon he began chuckling until he was laughing uncontrollably. Imagine! Shadow man! One of the most feared robot masters of all was here to get something to eat and go to the museum! The same robot master that infiltrated at least 5 military bases to sabotage works and defense! and at least 2 of them were top secret! The same robot master whom he had fought four times and each time they both had to be carried away! Though rockman always in one piece. After being one of the most feared and infamous robot masters of all time he was walking down the street like he had never done a thing in his life to go eat at an little known restaurant  
  
After a while his laughter slowly died down until it was down to a few chuckles  
  
"Are you finished?" shadow man asked  
  
"S-sorry" he said still laughing a little" so what your just here to relax?" shadow man nodded" mind if I tag along  
  
Shadow man looked at him oddly for a moment" you do realize we are supposed to be mortal enemies and kill each other right now right?"  
  
"Yep!" rockman replied cheerily  
  
"Great lets go"  
  
~at the diner~  
  
"Huh so you guys get money and free time and all that other stuff huh?" rockman asked  
  
Shadow man nodded" of course why wouldn't we?"  
  
"Well. I never really thought you guys had emotions or anything like that"  
  
Shadow man snickered" the name robot master is a bit misleading. Wily meant something more like masters of robots when he called us robot masters. As in we are not. Robots but we command the"  
  
"I.see"  
  
You're a bioroid to yes?"  
  
"To? You mean you're also?"  
  
Shadow man nodded" what did you think I meant we were androids?"  
  
"Um aren't the two kinda the same thing?"  
  
"Mentally? Yes. Physically? No. Bioroids are consisted of mechanical parts and artificially created human parts. Androids are made completely of mechanical parts."  
  
"But they both still have free will and emotions? Right?" rockman asked  
  
"To an extent" shadow man replied" they are all built with limitations mentally and both have programming beyond the basics. Partly because no one wants to build a machine with a total free will for fear of what it could do. Partly because we don't know how to make them able to learn without putting a few basic concepts into them. They can both expand their knowledge but only as far as their principles. The only reason androids and bioroids are still around and not fully sentient beings is mankind's fear of what they could do what they will do when given the choice of good and evil as they are given"  
  
They both sat in silence for a moment  
  
"You don't.hate mankind for that. Do you?"  
  
Shadow man smiled" not in the least"  
  
"Good"  
  
"The doctor says that a fully sentient bioroid would be called a reploid. He says androids wouldn't work because things made only of mechanical parts don't have the capacity for full sentience. He always talks about making one as a last resort and setting it loose to wreak havoc on the world if left with no other options."  
  
"But what's to say it wouldn't become good and not bad?"  
  
"He says he would put it through thirty years of conditional testing to make sure he becomes a killing machine"  
  
There was another long silence  
  
"You know shadow man you can always join us. We could always use the more help and someone like you would be greatly appreciated" rockman offered  
  
"Sorry rockman but I cant. It goes against my programming to disobey wily"  
  
"I understand" rockman replied a little disappointed  
  
"Well I should be going" shadow man said standing up  
  
"Ok" rockman said," remember my offer is always there"  
  
Shadow man smiled" if I ever defy all laws of physics ill take it" rockman laughed a little" and uh rockman?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Don't tell anyone I told you but.something's going down tonight"  
  
"Huh what?"  
  
"Sorry I can't tell you about it, wily's orders"  
  
But you just told me about it" rockman replied confused  
  
"No I told you OF it. Wily said I couldn't tell you ABOUT it" shadow man said smiling  
  
"Twisting the words eh?" rockman said smiling  
  
"Would you rather I hadn't warned you?" he asked  
  
"No no. Well thanks for the warning, I'm guessing ill be seeing you tonight then?"  
  
"Armor and all. You to?"  
  
"Id not miss it for the world"  
  
~that night outside the city~  
  
"Sorry I'm late," said a shadow man coming from behind in full armor  
  
"Don't worry about it" said quick man" lets just get this over with. Everyone knows there parts right?" all the robot masters nodded" good then lets do it"  
  
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Well what do you think? I know it's a lot longer then the prologue but so what? Again PLEASE review and forgive my horrific grammar. If I get good or no reviews I will post chapter two of "a light from the shadows", "the competition". Wherein I will have the tournament and we will see a little bit of what quick man and rockman do with their free time. Though I will probably post it if I only get or mostly get bad reviews to. 


	3. the competition

Disclaimer: I don't own rockman wily or any of the other characters in this story they all belong to capcom so don't sue me  
  
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Well, I never really expected it to last this long to be honest (. I expected to write one maybe two chapters and get bored, which happens a lot for me. But I think ill keep the story going. Course it would help if I could get some REVIEWS. Please PLEASE review. Pretty please? Ill give you a quarter. Well hopefully you will, but for now I give you the next installment of  
  
a Light from the Shadows  
  
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Chapter two: the competition  
  
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They stood there for a moment both gazing out at the city thinking about what lay ahead of them.  
  
"You think it will work?" quick man asked  
  
"I don't know" shadow man replied" all we can do is follow our orders and put our faith in wily's plan"  
  
"Ya.well we should get going"  
  
"See you back at the base" shadow man said as he dashed off  
  
Quick man nodded" see ya"  
  
~a few moments later in the power plant~  
  
"Heh this is gonna be two easy" elec man said grinning as he walked over the two dead guards." Now lets see, how to do this" he whispered while staring at the huge generator" o well guess ill have to do it the old fashioned way" he said his smile broadening  
  
He created a ball of lightning that encompassed his hand as he walked up to the huge generator that took up half the space in an already huge room.  
  
"Wonder how much electricity this thing can take before short circuiting" without another word he touched the generator with his hand inside the ball of lightning. Sparks and bolts of lighting started shooting from the machine as several alarms went off  
  
"Warning warning generator is overloading emergency shutdown activated" a mechanical voice shouted over the intercoms overhead.  
  
The generator suddenly became quite the alarms stopped and all the power in the city went out  
  
Elec man grinned" that should do it" he said proud of himself"  
  
~at a nearby military base~  
  
A huge robot that looked like a he could take on an entire squad of tanks cam rolling up to the gates on treads  
  
"Halt, who goes there?" a solder shouted from over the walls in the pitch- black base  
  
"Are you guys in place?" the robot asked through the communicator, to softly for the guards to hear  
  
"We are" three voices responded  
  
"Then lets get this show on the road" he rolled up close to the powered down base" my names napalm man and I'm the one who will be siegeing you tonight"  
  
Before the solder had a chance to respond napalm man started raining down gunfire and missiles on the base  
  
"GAH, SEND OUT THE TANKS!" one of the solders shouted into the communicator  
  
"We can only spare 3 for the front gates, we are being attacked on all four sides from different robots!" I voice responded through the COM units  
  
"Just send whatever you can before AAAA.."  
  
Afew minutes after napalm man started bombarding the base with missiles the gates opened. Several tanks rolled out followed by solders all wearing armor and carrying rifles. Unfortunately for them they neglected to notice the bombs napalm man had placed on the ground  
  
BO BO BOOM BO BOOM BOOM  
  
"AAAAAH" several solders screamed from the highly explosive mines exploding near them, and some were killed before they knew what was happening, but the mine killed them all, and two well placed mines disabled the gates abilities to close. Napalm man grinned as we entered the base  
  
"This is to easy," he said grinning  
  
~On the street near the base~  
  
Crap rockman thought the casualty rate is sky high I gotta get over there and stop them NOW  
  
Rockman suddenly skidded to a stop. He stared at the figure blocking his path  
  
"S-shadow man"  
  
"Hello rockman" the masked robot replied  
  
".Step aside shadow man, I have to get to the base"  
  
"We can't let you do that," a voice behind him stated  
  
Rockman whirled around" quick man? You're here to!?"  
  
Quick man nodded" I'm afraid you have to fight us before going to the base rockman"  
  
"Sorry but I don't have time for you" rockman replied as he started to run at shadow man  
  
"If you try to run without fighting then we will have to destroy these apartment buildings around us" shadow man stated coldly  
  
Rockman stopped dead in his tracks "YOU WOULDN'T" he shouted  
  
"Go ahead call our bluff"  
  
Rockman stood there for a moment not moving or saying anything" alright but lets make it quick"  
  
"Gladly" charmed a third voice  
  
Rockman whirled around but to late. Magnet man had already clipped on a small metal ring around rockman's leg.  
  
A beam suddenly shot from the ring to a nearby column of a parking garage, which it formed a ring around  
  
"What the heck is this?" rockman asked sourly  
  
"Its to keep you still for three minutes so we can use this little device" shadow man stated holding up the scanner  
  
"Hah that isn't gonna work" rockman stated pulling out the small EMP generator  
  
He pressed the button on the generator and a small wave started going outward a few feet from the generator. Unfortunately before it reached the scanner magnet man dashed in front of shadow man and created a magnetic field blocking out the EMP. Rockman was about to try again before quick man snatched the generator from rockman in the blink of an eye  
  
"Huh, o crap" he stated as he watched quick man crush the small device in his hand. Shadow man pointed the scanner at rockman  
  
"Gah there's no way you will get away with this!" rockman shouted as he fired his cannon in a last ditch effort to stop the scanner. Unfortunately his efforts were in vain as magnet mans shield deflected his shots. In one last attempt he tried to destroy the restraining devise, shooting it, pulling at it, smashing it, but nothing worked.  
  
"There" shadow man stated" its done." Turning on his communicator he said to the others" alright everyone mission complete pull out NOW"  
  
A series of affirmatives sounded through the communicator. Suddenly the rope like beam that was holding rockman in place disappeared.  
  
"And not a moment to soon" quick man stated" looks like it ran out of juice  
  
Shots suddenly started raining down on them from above  
  
"Gah what the heck?!" quick man shouted looking to see were the shots came from  
  
"FORTE" rockman shouted  
  
Forte grinned as he landed" I heard a military base was under attack and I could think of only one person so I decided to come over here and make his life miserable. Plus I figured you'd be there so I could take YOU out once and for all and prove my strength. But you can wait till after these robot masters"  
  
"Sorry forte but we gotta run" quick man said activating his teleporter  
  
"Wish we could stay and destroy you but we got strict orders not to fight" magnet man stated before activating his own  
  
"I warned you something was going down tonight rockman, you should have headed my warning. Well, until we meet again" without another word shadow man activated his teleporter  
  
"Rockman stood there for a moment before hearing a voice through the communicator  
  
"Rockman, it's a miracle. All of the robot masters have pulled out of the base and they were about to level it, and the power plants back online" a military officer relayed  
  
"That's.good" rockman said before starting to walk away  
  
" HEY were do you think your going what about our fight?" forte shouted  
  
"Not now forte" rockman said gloomily while activating his teleporter  
  
"Grr how DARE he do that to me" forte snarled" ILL GET YOU YET ROCKMAN, ILL PROVE IM THE STRONGEST," He shouted  
  
~at wily's lab~  
  
"Very good all of you wonderful job" wily said congratulating them all" iv already told the other robot masters about the plan and the tournament so feel free to talk freely about it" he stated grinning broadly" the tournament beguines in two days, I expect you to all be in top shape for the preliminaries" all the robot masters nodded" good until then you are dismissed"  
  
~at noon the same day, somewhere in the city~  
  
Rockman walked through the park in his usual human outfit  
  
How could I have ben so careless he thought now, wily knows how to build my weapons system, and program it. Who knows how many more fortes he will build now  
  
While he was thinking he wasn't watching were he was going ant ran into a kid who wasn't looking were he was going and running very fast  
  
"oooooooooowwwwwwww" the kid who looked about 16 or 17" sorry about that" he said to rockman as he stood up" I shoulda watched were I was goin" he said extending his hand to help rockman up  
  
Rockman looked at him. He was slim, slimmer than shadow man. He was a few inches taller then he was and had long red hair. was wearing a gold shirt and red pants and a reddish gold baseball cap.  
  
"It was my fault," he said taking the boys hand" I wasn't watching were I was going either"  
  
"Ya I saw you earlier. Pretty deep in thought" said the boy  
  
Rockman blushed" eheh ya" he said sheepishly  
  
The boy smiled" you should try doing something to keep your mind off your problems, that's why I was running" rockman nodded" so what's your problem?" he asked  
  
"Ah well.its kinda personal" he said blushing again  
  
"I can understand that" the boy replied  
  
"So what about you?" rockman asked  
  
"Iv got a tournament coming up" the boys grin grew wider" and there's no way ill lose"  
  
Rockman nodded were have I seen him before? He thought I KNOW I've seen him somewhere before but where?"  
  
"Hmm.have we met before?" the boy asked  
  
"I was just thinking the s." he stopped and in a much lower voice he whispered" are you quick man?"  
  
"Yep I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out" the disguised boiroid replied cheerily  
  
Rockman took a step backwards" what the heck are you doing here? Come to attack the city this time?"  
  
"Hey calm down" he replied" I wasn't lying when I said I was running to keep my mind off a tournament," he said smiling" I'm here on my own accord"  
  
Rockman stood still for a moment remembering his encounter with shadow man" did shadow man tell you what I looked like?" he asked, quick man nodded" what kind of tournament is it"  
  
"The only kind wily ever holds" he responded  
  
"And why is he holding it?"  
  
"Well you can't expect him to put the weapons system in a bunch of robots do you? It's really hard to make. The materials are all really rare and take a lot of time to process. Not to mention it takes forever to program. He's only going to put the system in one of his robots. Well I gotta be goin, see ya" before rockman had a chance to say anything else the robot master ran off"  
  
"Great" grumbled rockman as he walked on" well at least I know I won't be fighting ten fortes. But I still gotta train and get ready for whoever wins that tournament. Or, if I can, stop it altogether" without a second thought on the matter he immediately began looking for a place that would be safe us his teleport in"  
  
"Yes master wily," a voice from behind a nearby building, said," rockman knows about the tournament"  
  
"Good" a voice said through the communicator" now report back to base"  
  
"Yes master wily"  
  
~at the fortress~  
  
Quick man stood in the middle of a hallway. Part of the boomerang on his helmet, along with a little bit of his helmet, was cut off. His chest plate was cut in several places, and in the center of were the boomerang painted on his chest was supposed to be, there was a large hole in his armor, exposing slightly charred skin. Surrounding him were two robot masters on each side of him. One on each side was lying on the ground dead. The live ones were hard man on one side and elec man on the other. On the ground there were cut man and pharaoh man.  
  
"Give up" elec man shouted," There's no way you can win"  
  
"Really?" quick man taunted" lets see you two clowns try and stop me"  
  
"Grr hard man blast him"  
  
The huge robot master nodded and fired his hard knuckles at quick man. Quick man dodged the two flying fists and dashed strait at the helpless hard man, or at least almost helpless. Hard man bent over slightly and activated his thrusters sending him flying across the room faster than the knuckles. Unfortunately for hard man, quick man had anticipated this and quickly moved out of the way pulling out his giant boomerang as he did. Swinging the huge blade he used hard mans won momentum to cut him in half; he immediately turned to elec man. Unfortunately for elec man he had do dodge the flying pieces of the destroyed robot master and was almost hit but his body but managed to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately for him he had ben to preoccupied with avoiding hard man to notice quick man running up next to him. Quick man stopped halfway to elec man though and fired off three quick boomerangs, which elec man easily dodged  
  
"Common quick man you think I'm slow enough to get hit by a few boomerangs?" elec man taunted grinning at having avoided his opponents attacks so easily  
  
Unfortunately he didn't doge the hard knuckles that had turned around and headed back at him. Taken aback by the hits that shattered his armor in two places he didn't have nearly enough time to dodge the three quick boomerangs that were coming back at him.  
  
Shi-shin-shink  
  
Elec man fell to the floor dead  
  
"That was to easy" quick man mumbled  
  
"I agree" a voice, echoed through the hallway  
  
Quick man spun around to see shadow man  
  
"Jeez you can't have this thing any higher than what level 10?"  
  
"This was just a warm up" quick man snapped  
  
"Well how bought a real workout?" shadow man asked putting his hand on his sword hilt  
  
"A duel?" quick man chimed  
  
"No we are saving that for the tournament remember? That way I can beat you in front of everyone." Shadow man taunted  
  
"Why don't you just give up now there's no way you will last more then ten seconds with me, they don't call me quick man for nothing" the red robot master replied  
  
"Ya a battle can be won against you quicker than any other robot master" shadow man retorted  
  
"I know you didn't come here just to mock me. What do you want?" quick man asked  
  
"A little competition" shadow man replied  
  
"What kind of competition?"  
  
"An obstacle course"  
  
"Hah you know there's no way you can defeat me on an obstacle course"  
  
" A level 40 obstacle course"  
  
".O, well I suppose, why not. Ill embarrasses you now AND at the tournament. If of course you make it past the preliminaries"  
  
"Heh, your not much faster than me. Though you are much slower than me," shadow man mocked  
  
"Huh what do you m- HEY" quick man shouted fuming  
  
"Computer activate level forty obstacle course" shadow man shouted  
  
"Affirmative" an automated voice chimed  
  
The room began to distort as colors and shapes became unrecognizable. Soon they began to stop moving and shifting, and formed what looked like a large canyon. There were two paths.  
  
"So I take one you take one sound fair?" shadow man asked  
  
Without saying a word quick man dashed forward taking the path to the right. Not to be left behind shadow man quickly took the path to the left  
  
Shadow man ran along and for a few moments didn't find any obstacles, but soon he came to an area with several walls set up strategically to discourage attackers, though he could weave around them there was an army of different Joes taking refuge behind the walls while firing at shadow man. Crystal Joe's, hammer Joes, skull Joes, and of course wilys favorite, sniper Joes. The sniper Joes were able to use there shields as walls and as such gave more room behind the walls for other Joes.  
  
Without stopping to consider the situation shadow man continued dashing toward the fortifications while dodging fire from his enemies, not bothering to use his shadow blades because he knew they could simply duck behind walls or shields. Though as soon as he got up to the fortifications he immediately drew his swords and started slashing and that he could without straying off his course. After about a minute of dodging, slashing, and running he finally got to the other end of the walls and continued on.  
  
For his next obstacle he stopped in his tracks. He stood at one end of a huge pit, far to wide for him to jump across. The only way across was by using a few flying enemies as platforms to jump on, unfortunately they all had propellers on top and were all moving. And as if that weren't enough on the other side of the pit there was a wall of sniper Joes waiting to fire as soon as he came into range, which was about an inch past the edge of the pit  
  
"Lovely" he mumbled" well might as well get it over with"  
  
He jumped strait for the first flying robot. He threw a shadow blade ahead of him to cut off the propeller before he reached it so as he wasn't hit by it. He continued this pattern for a wile, using his sword to block and reflect al of the shots the sniper Joes on the other side were shooting. Unfortunately for him they all had the accuracy of real snipers. When he finally reached the last one he waited for a moment before pushing off as to throw of the sniper Joes aim. As he was in the air he threw as many shadow blades as he could at the sniper Joes to keep them pinned down as he flew over their heads. When he landed he didn't even bother to look behind him as he dashed off again. After facing afew more minor enemies and obstacles he came to the end of the fork and saw the goal line. Unfortunately quick man wasn't far behind him.  
  
He immediately began pushing as hard as he could going as fast as he could, unfortunately for him quick man was doing the same, and he had made it quite clear that he was the fastest robot master. Quick man slowly caught up to shadow man as the raced for the finish line. Just as they passed the finish line quick man managed to get ahead of shadow man by mere inches and win  
  
The both of them skidded to a stop after they passed the finish line  
  
Quick man grinned while breathing heavily" hah I *pant* told you id *pant* win"  
  
"It *pant* wont go as smoothly in *pant* the tournament" shadow man replied just as exhausted" speaking of the tournament, are you ready for it? I don't want to humiliate you unless your at your best" shadow man mocked  
  
"Just try to last long until after they finish saying 'fight'" quick man retorted  
  
~the next day~  
  
All of the robot masters gathered in the huge stadium wily had used during his sixth bid for world domination. Wily voice suddenly blasted over the load speakers  
  
"I'm glad to see you all decided to come. I'm going to skip the introductions and get strait to the good part, the preliminaries will be don't through a series of four person free-for-alls. After there are only sixteen of you left we will begin the finals. You lose in the preliminaries when you are knocked out of the ring, surrender, or are destroyed. Now get into your respective grooms so we can do this"  
  
After all the groups were assembled most of the groups left, but four remained in the stadium and entered one of four rings. Shadow man was in the first groom and he was placed with some mediocre robot masters, knight man, guts man, and cut man.  
  
When the match started cut man knight man and guts man all charged at him knowing that he would win and there only chance was to all attack him at once. Shadow man grinned under his mask at there smart, though futile, effort. He backed up a little to the edge of the ring waiting for the two weapons that had ben thrown at him to reach him. A second before they attacked his current position he jumped up and over guts man who had also reached him. Before he landed he kicked guts man in the back with all his might and forced the behemoth robot master out of the ring. Using his hands to flip himself up into the air again he landed next to the other two robot masters. He grabbed his sword and at the same time he spun in a full circle attempting to cut the both of the two remaining robot masters in half. While he did destroy cut man knight man managed to block with his shield. Knight man stumbled backwards a few steps then charged to attack. When he got close he fired his mace, which shadow man easily dodged. What shadow man hadn't expected though was knight man to try to bash him with his shield and head but him. While he was able to dodge the shield, knight mans forehead landed right between shadow mans eyes. He dropped his sword as he stumbled backwards before falling down. He looked up just in time to dodge knight mans mace coming down on his head. Knight man continued to assault shadow man swinging his mace without firing it, inching him closer and closer to the edge of the circle. Unfortunately for him he didn't realize it was shadow man who was inching him toward the edge, not the other way around. A little before shadow man reached the edge of the ring knight man swung down with his mace. Shadow man caught his arm and rolled backwards-pulling knight man with him. Putting one foot on his stomach he launched knight man out of the ring behind him.  
  
~a few rounds later~  
  
Bah quick man thought looking at his opponents I don't see why wily doesn't just give ME the upgrade. None of these maggots are any match for me  
  
He was facing tomahawk man, hard man, and magnet man  
  
As soon as the match started hard man and magnet man ignored the other two competitors and began assaulting each other. Tomahawk man threw some of his feathers at quick man and charged at him  
  
Pathetic he thought while shooting some quick boomerangs at the feathers this guy is just pathetic  
  
The boomerangs he fired at the feathers cut them in half and continued toward tomahawk man who immediately stopped. Jumping over the boomerangs he threw his tomahawk at quick man who used his giant boomerang to knock it to the ground  
  
As tomahawk man landed quick man said in an irritated voice" you're a real moron you know that"  
  
"WHAT? How dare you your gonna get it n-" before he had a chance to finish three quick boomerangs gut through him from behind. He dropped to the ground dead.  
  
Quick man grinned they always forget they come back he thought  
  
Quick man heard a thud and looked over to see hard man laying dead on the ground, killed by his weakness, magnet missile. Magnet man stood there looking at the undamaged quick man, although he himself was very damaged.  
  
"Forget it," he said" you win, I surrender. No point in fighting a hopeless battle" without another word he limped out of the circle  
  
"Well" quick man stated" that makes things much simpler"  
  
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Well? What do you think? Please review and tell me what you think. Next chapter "the tournament" will cover most, if not all, of the fights. 


	4. the tournament part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own rockman, the robot masters, or any of the other characters mentioned in this fic they all belong to capcom so don't sue me  
  
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I still find it hard to believe I'm still doing this. I swear I'm making half of the story up as I type it; course stuff like that always has come easy to me. Sorry for not updating in awhile, I've ben really busy. Please continue to read my fic and would some one please REVIEW. I haven't gotten a single review yet and I really need some feedback, so please review. This chapter is going to have a lot more fighting and gore then in it then the previous chapters. So if you don't like that kind of stuff you might want to skip some of the chapter. And now, I give you the next chapter of  
  
A Light from the Shadows  
  
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chapter three: the tournament part 1  
  
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He walked into the tournament ring as cocky as ever. The wind kicked up dust around him from the dirt ground but his red and gold armor shined as brightly as ever. He walked to the center of the stadium where a purple and gold robot was waiting for him.  
  
Quick man grinned and said "I see you made it past the preliminaries napalm man"  
  
"I could've leveled this whole stadium if I had wanted to, or if I do" napalm man said smugly  
  
"I'm sure wily can find a better use for all your ammo after I've turned you into scrap metal" quick man retorted  
  
Before napalm man got a chance to answer wilys voice blasted through the speakers" alright" he shouted" you both know the rules. The fight doesn't stop till one of you loses and anyone who helps one of the competitors will be dismantled. Ready? FIGHT"  
  
At the moment wily finished that word napalm man sped backwards on his treads, fortunately for him he didn't need to turn around to do so. As he flew backwards he unloaded all of his guns and missiles onto quick mans position. Quick man immediately jumped upward to avoid getting hit, and fired several quick boomerangs, forcing napalm man to make evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit, which wasn't easy with tank treads. He did however manage to avoid being hit and as soon as quick man landed he turned to face him. Quick man immediately began firing his boomerangs again to keep napalm man from firing. Unfortunately for quick man, napalm man did the exact opposite of what he expected. Instead of moving to avoid the boomerangs napalm man simply stood there and fired as many things he could at quick man. Quick man knew the bullets, plasma pellets, and missiles would take him out long before his tiny boomerangs took out the heavily armored napalm man. Quick man knew his only hope to defeat the behemoth was to use his giant boomerang, unfortunately it could be easily shot out of the sky before getting halfway to napalm man. His only chance was to out maneuver napalm man and get up next to him so he could slice him. In an attempt to confuse him quick man immediately began jumping and running in every direction, while slowly inching closer to the tank like robot master. Unfortunately he hadn't noticed that napalm man had set mines on the ground while he was dodging quick mans quick boomerangs, and stepped right on to one.  
  
BOOM  
  
Quick man was sent flying over napalm man, though he didn't see it. Napalm man immediately looked to the dust cloud were he thought quick man was. He stood triumphantly as he stared at the vacant area, thinking quick man was vaporized or buried. He never saw quick man come up behind him raise up his boomerang and bring it down right on top of his head, staining the ground with napalm mans innards. He was carried out of the ring in two half's, while quick man hopped out with one leg missing.  
  
~several minutes later~  
  
The two combatants stepped onto the field at the same time; one of them was red and white. His torso looked like a bolt and instead of hands he had long thin cones with spikes sticking out of their ends. On top of his head was a large device used to help conduct electricity. He was spark man.  
  
His opponent was black with red gauntlets and yellow boots. He had a yellow lightning bold painted on his chest and yellow painted around his eyes with another lightning bold going upwards from between his eyes making it look like a mask. He was elec man.  
  
"You both know the rules correct?" wily asked and both the competitors nodded" then FIGHT  
  
Both combatants immediately shot huge electrical charges at each other, each canceling out the others. Spark man jumped high in the air creating a charge that sent sparks out in every direction. After dodging these attacks elec man sent his thunder beam at where spark man was about to land. He grinned thinking the battle was already his, but to his dismay spark man caught the attack with his hands/spikes and absorbed it! Elec man could only stare in horror. It was his best weapon! He didn't have very many others, and none could compare to his thunder beams power, which was notoriously the most powerful master weapon of them all.  
  
Crap he thought all my attacks aside from my fists are lightning based. How the hell am I supposed to fight this guy if I can't hurt him?  
  
Before he could ponder on this any more spark man sent another deadly shock strait at him.  
  
Only one choice he thought its risky but it's the only chance I've got  
  
When spark man readied his next attack elec man made his move, dashing behind spark man and grabbing his conductors before he could unleash his attack  
  
"What the? What the heck are you doing?" spark man snarled  
  
Without a word elec man began sending as much electricity into spark mans conductors as he could  
  
"What? Hey are you insane or something all your doing is helping me here you know" spark man said grinning. Elec man however just gritted his teeth as he sent as much energy into spark man as quickly as he could  
  
" Forget it" the red robot mocked said" there's no way you can generate enough power to overload m-" his expression changed to horror as he began feeling a burning where his generator was" n-no way there's no was" he began thrashing about in an attempt to not only get out of elec mans grip but to use of some of the energy. But alas, all his efforts were in vain as all he did was prolong his death into a much more excruciating ordeal. After about thirty more seconds of pumping electricity into spark man he exploded, sending parts, both organic and artificial, all over the ring. And covering elec mans armor with blood and oil  
  
"Cocky punk" he mumbled  
  
~a few matches later~  
  
Shadow man stood in the center of the ring waiting for his opponent to appear  
  
"Perhaps he came to his senses and realized no one has any chance against me," he grumbled knowing the idiots would never forfeit  
  
After another moment another robot master walked into the ring. He had tan and gold armor, a headset that looked like that of an ancient pharaoh, and a black and gold cape.  
  
"I see you decided to go through with your suicide then? Pharaoh man" shadow man said confidently  
  
"Talk while you can insolent whelp. All who question my power shall be punished by it, no matter who are what they are" pharaoh man retorted with his own self-confidence  
  
"Enough small talk" wily yelled through the speakers" lets do this. Ready?" the fighters nodded  
  
"FIGHT"  
  
Both of the competitors immediately dashed away from one another, pharaoh man charging his buster while shadow man threw his shadow blades as quickly as he could. Pharaoh man, after taking a few small scratches, stopped and swung his buster in a horizontal arc unleashing his fully charged pharaoh shot as he did, which spread out as it went farther. Instead of dodging the attack shadow man dashed strait at it, slicing through it with his sword he dashed at pharaoh man and tried to cut him to pieces, but only succeeded in damaging his opponents cape. Unfortunately for shadow man he hadn't noticed pharaoh man was charging his pharaoh shot again. Pharaoh man made a small sacrifice, he allowed shadow man to stab him in the arm, and then grabbed shadow mans arm with the wounded arm while the blade was still in it. He put his buster up to shadow mans face. Shadow man starred in horror as pharaoh man unleashed a fully charged pharaoh shot to his face at point blank range. The blast sent him flying backwards several yards and he lost his grip on his sword, his bandages were all either destroyed or had fallen off, and his face was badly burned and bleeding. He lay on the ground motionless for a while as pharaoh man walked next to him, pulling the sword out of his arm as he did.  
  
"Well well well, the great shadow man, the most feared robot master of all" he leaned down so his face was inches from shadows as he opened his eyes" how did someone like as weak and reckless as you get such a reputation?" he asked  
  
Pharaoh mans eye suddenly widened and his expression changed from its confident smug look to a look of shock and horror.  
  
"With skills and tactics" shadow man said with a grin  
  
"Tricky basterd" pharaoh man whispered as he fell onto shadow man. Blood and oil were staining the pharaoh mans and shadow mans armor as shadow man pushed him off, pulling the shadow blades out of pharaoh mans back and the backs of his head and neck. As he stood up he grabbed his sword returning it to its sheath and walked out of the ring.  
  
~a few minutes later~  
  
The two combatants stared at each other in silence as they prepared themselves for the fight.  
  
One of them was outfitted very similar to megaman except a different color scheme, red and white, and helmet. His helmet had one large loop coming out of either side of his head where his ears would be. On top of his head he had what looked like huge cutting sheers. He was cut man.  
  
His opponent had green boots and blue armlets. Instead of feet he had huge claws and he had more claws protruding from his armlets. His upper torso was blue while his lower torso and shoulder plates were green, his chest plate also had a wide white stripe going down it. He had long orange hair, which was pointing backwards in spikes. He was slash man.  
  
"You both know the rules correct?" wily shouted when both the competitors nodded he continued" ready? FIGHT"  
  
Slash man immediately dashed strait for cut man and attempted to slice through him. Cut man however had anticipated this and jumped over slash man throwing his cut blade while he was in the air. Slash man dashed out of its way toward cut man who began dodging slash mans attacks. When cut mans cut blade finally came back around slash man jumped over cut man firing a bomb of goop to immobilize cut man. Before the cut blade even got back to him cut wan was stuck in place as the red sticky goo kept him from moving.  
  
"I admire your courage" he said" but you never had a chance" Without another word slash man rushed forward slashing cut man to pieces.  
  
~In the surrounding jungle about 50 miles away~  
  
Rockman walked through the jungle brush, completely lost, and with atmosphere and plants interfering with both his teleporter and COM unit.  
  
Lovely he thought I'm trapped in the middle of nowhere, no idea where I am, no idea where to go, and no way to contact anyone you've sure done it this time rock  
  
He stumbled through the jungle for a little while until he heard something that made him stop in his tracks  
  
"Why did that dammed old fart have to build that stupid stadium in the middle of nowhere? In a place that's impossible to teleport into? Just chalk it up as another reason to kill the old basterd once I get my hands on him" a voice grumbled through the brush  
  
He would know that voice anywhere" forte!" he shouted  
  
"What the" the black robot said surprised as he came through the brush and saw rockman" huh? What are you doing here?" he asked  
  
"I'm searching for wily" rockman replied" I heard he was having a tournament and this was the only place I could think of where he would hold it. Though right now I'm kinda lost. And my navigation system is out, and my COM unit, and my teleporter"  
  
"Ya" forte replied" that's why wily choose this place as location, so you couldn't just teleport in, and so it would be extremely hard to find it. Now" forte said forming a buster in with his left hand" I believe we have some unfinished business from the other night"  
  
Rockman stood there for a moment" forte your going after wily after our fight right?" he asked  
  
"Of course," he snarled" but what does it matter to you? Your gonna be dead soon anyway"  
  
"Do you really think you can take on an army of robot masters alone and damaged?" he asked  
  
".Dam I didn't think of that" he said lowering his buster  
  
"How bout a truce till we take care of wily?" rockman proposed, holding out his hand  
  
Forte stood there for a moment then scowled before taking rockman's hand" you know I could backstab you at any time" he said  
  
"You wont" rockman replied smiling  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"You want to prove your strength, not just kill me"  
  
"As soon as wilys gone your next blue boy"  
  
~at the coliseum~  
  
Shadow man walked into the ring, new wrappings now on his head and stared at his opponent.  
  
"Hello slash. I saw your match with cut man, this should be fun. Though we both know you don't stand a chance" shadow man said grinning under his new mask  
  
"You will fall as easily ass all the others" slash man replied with his own grin  
  
"Are both fighters ready?" wily asked both. The fighters nodded" then lets begin the first match of the quarterfinals. FIGHT"  
  
Slash man and shadow man both dashed towards each other. Shadow man slashed with his sword in one hand and a shadow blade in the together, while slash man simply used his claws. Shadow man slashed downward with his sword which was blocked by slash mans claws, he tried to punch shadow man in the stomach, which would effectively stab him, but was blocked by a shadow blade shadow man was holding.  
  
"I didn't know you could use thoughts things in close combat" slash man said  
  
"You don't know a whole lot about me slash man" shadow man replied  
  
Pushing away from slash man he put a few feet in between the two of them and began throwing as many shadow blades as he could at the rabid robot master. Slash man however jumped over shadow man firing a goo bomb as he did. Shadow man however was to fast to be caught by the attack and dashed to where slash man was bout to land tiring to slice him with his sword. Slash man tried to use this to his advantage, trying to block with one hand and stab with the other. He did manage to stab shadow man in t he shoulder, disabling his left arm, but he was unable to block the sword and instead got his arm sliced off at the elbow. Shadow mans arm fell to his side limp, as his wrapping were drenched with blood. Slash mans arm fell to the ground spilling its contents onto the surrounding ground which soon me the pool that was created from slash mans elbow bleeding. Slash man immediately tried to kick shadow man with the claws on his feet, but shadow man was able to get slash mans blades out of his shoulder and get jump out of the way, though he was still cut by the kick just not deeply enough to do anything more than create a little blood. He stood there, he was unable to throw shadow blades and his opponent couldn't fire his goo bombs.  
  
"You've got more damage" slash man stated" you will fall first"  
  
"We will see" shadow man said as his breathing became heavier.  
  
Shadow man dashed at slash man who did the same, but what slash man hadn't ben expecting was shadow man throwing his sword. He managed to knock it out of the way, but when he looked ahead of him again shadow man was gone! He looked above himself to where he had knocked the shadow mans sword just in time to see shadow man coming down and plunging the point of his blade strait into slash man. When he landed he pulled the blade down and toward him, ripping it out from where it was and almost cutting slash man in two, spraying his parts all over shadow man and the ground around him.  
  
"I told you, you didn't stand a chance," he stated coldly before walking out of the ring  
  
~a little while later~  
  
The robot master stood in the middle of the ring waiting for his opponent to appear. His armor was all dark blue and purple. He had a large dark green gem on either shin, and talons where his feet would be. He had large purple wings and long vampire fangs. He was shade man.  
  
There was a sudden flash of light and his opponent was suddenly in front of him. He was mostly blue with gold trim. He had gold colored gloves and the top of his head was a gold colored glass. On his right arm he had an unusual buster that had much more of a box shape to it then the normal oval shape. He was flash man  
  
Flash man grinned" I always like to make flashy entrances" he said, with only himself laughing at his joke  
  
"You think your funny don't you?" shade man replied" well ill just suck that confidence right out of you" he said, with his broadening smile revealing his fangs  
  
"Alright you both know the rules ready?" both fighters simply nodded" FIGHT"  
  
There was a bright flash and flash man was gone! Shade man looked around for a moment before being hit in the back by a shot of hot plasma.  
  
"Gah, what the?" he shouted whirling around just in time to see flash man before another bright flash, this time he immediately felt the plasma shot on his back.  
  
There were several more flashed and he was hit several more times before the bombardment finally stopped. Shade man dropped to the ground with his armor badly damaged and in some places completely gone, most of his skin that was exposed was badly burned and bleeding. There was another bright flash.  
  
This time flash man appeared in front of him" hah that was to easy" he said grinning" I'm feeling merciful today" he said" ill give you a chance to forfeit and leave here alive. So," he said while leaning down so he could be face to face with his opponent" why don't you just save me some time and just forfeit"  
  
Shade man grinned," because you just gave me the victory," he said  
  
Before flash man had a chance to do anything beams suddenly shot out of shade mans eyes strait into flash mans, he was completely immobilized  
  
"Rockman hated this trick" he said" but he was never hit in the eyes so he always broke free before I was able to suck all his energy out of him" he said as he griped flash man" and I'm not giving you a chance to surrender. Shade man sank his fangs into one of flash mans central energy pathways and began draining him of energy. Within minutes flash man was completely drained and shade man dropped his limp body to the ground as he had stood up after absorbing a little energy  
  
" Well it wasn't confidence but it was just as good" he said grinning evilly  
  
~The next match~  
  
"So your gonna be the next one to fall eh elec?" quick man said with his usual cocky grin  
  
"Your fast but not as fast as electricity" elec man retorted  
  
"Both fighters ready?" wily yelled from the radio tower" FIGHT" he yelled before the fighters could nod  
  
Quick man began dashing around and firing quick boomerangs in an attempt to confuse elec man, unfortunately elec man was one of the faster robot masters and was able to follow him, he immediately shot his thunder beam at quick man who was forced to abort his attempts to confuse his opponent in order to avoid the blast, one hit would probably if not defiantly kill him as he had thin armor for less weight. He continued to fire his quick boomerangs as he dashed toward elec man who kept firing his thunder beam and the persistent quick man. Quick man tried to get close to elec man several times but each time he was thwarted by his thunder beam. Seeing the direct approach was no use he grabbed his giant boomerang and swung it in front of him low kicking up lots of dust, too much to see through. Using the dust could to cover his movements quick man fired some quick blades in random directions then jumped over where elec man had ben standing so he would be behind his adversary. As he came down he brought his boomerang down to slice the robot master in two, but elec man had seen him jump. Elec man caught the blade in midair and started sending energy through it strait into quick man. Quick man howled with pain as he felt tens of thousands of volts of electricity course through his body by the second. After a moment of shocking him elec man released the blade allowing the boomerang and quick man to fall to the ground.  
  
"To bad" he said," you were a good fighter, that was a nice try"  
  
"I'm not dead yet you out dated piece of junk" quick man grumbled as he slowly got up, he grabbed his boomerang and used it for support as he stood up" and I'm not giving up" he growled at his opponent  
  
"Surely you must be joking" elec man said grinning," you can barely stand, let alone fight"  
  
"I don't care how damaged I am!" quick man shouted as he dashed toward elec man gripping his huge blade  
  
"Your very valiant but it wont do you any good!" elec man stated as he fired his thunder beam  
  
Instead of dodging it, quick man swung his blade vertically upwards, cutting through the attack, using the momentum of his attack to go in a circle and the momentum of his run to get up to elec man, he cut the other robot master in two as he brought the blade up for a second slice. Because quick man was drained he wasn't able to put much more force into the blade, which forced elec mans body back behind quick man as he went forward strewing his insides across the field as the flew across it.  
  
Quick man skidded to a stop" you should have surrendered," he said before limping out of the arena using his boomerang as a crutch  
  
~a few matches later~  
  
The impatient robot stood in the center of the ring. He had a red cylinder shaped cannon on either arm. He his upper torso and shoulders had red armor covering them and what looked like a stainless steak burner for a helmet with fire protruding from the top. The rest of him was gray. He was fire man.  
  
There was suddenly the revving of an engine as a racecar roared into the ring, as it reached the center in transformed into a robot master. His boots were a very light blue on the shins and green on the feet with wheels on either side of both his heels. His wrist guards were green and he had white gloves. His front torso was light blue with four small exhaust pipes and his back was green with two much larger exhaust pipes protruding from them. Where shoulders normally would be there where large tires. His head was light blue with a thin red band going around it. It also had a large black and white checkered stripe going on top of his head going from one end of the band on the front of his head going to the back. He was turbo man.  
  
"Hello you outdated trash burner," he said  
  
"Hello you oversized toy car" fire man replied. If either of them had mouths they would have been grinning  
  
"Ready?" wily asked, both the competitors nodded" then let the last match of the quarter finals begin"  
  
Both of the fighters immediately shot their own fire weapons, though fire mans was much stronger and wasn't even slowed by the weak fire wheel. Turbo man though had already changed into a racecar once more and had sped out of the way. He sped around the arena in speeds to rival quick mans and made several attempts to ram fire man who continued to fire his fire storm at turbo man. Unfortunately for him he wasn't fast enough to hit the speeding robot or dodge him. After a few hits he stopped firing and stood still keeping an eye on turbo man, and as soon as he came in for another attack fire man unleashed his firestorm full force, hitting the helpless turbo man who had no chance to avoid it. He was forced to change back into his more resilient robot form, lest he be destroyed, and he skidded along the ground till he stopped right in front of fire man. Without a thought fire man aimed both his cannons down at the hapless turbo man and fired. Turbo man had only just enough time to put up a shield of fire around him and put as much power into it as possible. He knew however, that he would run out of energy long before fire man. He looked desperately for a chance to get away and saw one. He saw that one of fire mans legs was badly damaged from constant ramming. He put as much power into his shield as he could and thrust up against fire mans weakened leg. Fire man immediately stopped his assault and screamed in pain and the intense flames surrounded his leg. The flames quickly melted his armor and set the cloth underneath on fire. His leg was now completely bare and turbo man griped fire man pulling himself up so fire mans entire body was encompassed by the scorching flames. The terrible stench of burning flesh filled the air as fire mans screams of pain subsided. After a moment turbo man released him and let what remained of his body fall to the ground.  
  
"Stupid old geezer" he grunted  
  
~a little later about 2 miles away~  
  
"About how close do you think we are?" rockman asked  
  
"We should be pretty close now" forte replied looking at a paper map" it should be about two miles.that way, give or take a few" he said pointing in ahead of them  
  
Rockman nodded" good I'm getting tired off all this jungle"  
  
"In about the last half mile he probably will have some defense robots so be prepared" forte said  
  
"O lovely" rockman replied" that'll be fun"  
  
"O and you might want to stop," he said  
  
"Huh? Stop whaaaaaAAAAAAAAA" he yelled as he suddenly stepped off a huge cliff, and was only saved by forte catching his leg before he fell to far  
  
"That's why" forte grunted as he pulled rockman up" about a mile and a quarter of our journey is going to be down that cliff"  
  
"Thanks for the warning" rockman said still in shock  
  
Forte grinned" look," he said pointing toward the cliff" you can see the stadium. A little after, if not as soon as we are down this cliff expect a fight"  
  
Rockman nodded as he got up and walked toward the cliff" alright then we should hurry," he said  
  
"Its gonna take a long time to climb down that thing" forte said  
  
"Who ever said we were climbing?" rockman replied looking at him with a devilish grin  
  
"What do you? O no you better not be thinking what I think your thinking" forte said  
  
Rockmans grin broadened as he nodded" you coming?  
  
"Have I got a choice?"  
  
"The robot masters will be all gone by the time you get there if you don't"  
  
Forte sighed" all right lets get it ov-" before he had a chance to answer rock bolted toward the cliff grabbing a huge leaf off a tree as he did  
  
"Alright then lets GO!" he shouted as he jumped of the side and began skidding down the slightly slanted cliff using the leaf as a board  
  
"Huh? HEY, WAIT FOR ME!" forte shouted as he dashed toward the cliff grabbing his own leaf  
  
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well that's it for this chapter. Next chapter the two of them will arrive but will it be in time to stop the tournament? Will they catch wily? Will the tournament be finished? Will I ever stop asking these inane questions? All these answers and more in the next chapter of a light from the shadows. REVIEW 


	5. the tournament part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own rockman the robot masters or any of the other characters mentioned in this fiction they all belong to capcom so don't sue me  
  
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Hi all (. I'm really sorry about these last two chapters taking so long; I've been really busy with school (they seem to love bombarding you with homework just before break). Ill try to update more often from now on. Anyway I'm not gonna spoil the surprise of what's gonna be in this chapter so your just gonna hafta find out by reading. And hopefully someone will finally REVIEW. Sigh o well here's the next chapter of  
  
a light from the shadows  
  
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chapter four: the tournament part 2  
  
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Rockman sat hidden in a bush trying to not make any noise. After he and forte had slid down the cliff, which had quickly turned into a race, they had met heavy defenses immediately and had gotten separated. Around him at least fifteen guard Joe's patrolled the area looking for him, and it was only a matter of time before they found him.  
  
Beautiful he thought just fucking great I'm separated from the only help for miles I have no idea how to get to the arena from here and I'm surrounded by guard Joes, I'm gonna die in this dam jungle. Well if I'm going down I might as well take a few of them with me  
  
Rockman began charging his buster and looked for good chances to attack. After his buster was fully charged he leapt out from the bus and slammed his fist into the face of a nearby sniper Joe. He grabbed the sniper Joes shield and bashed his head with it. After that he immediately whirled around blocking with the shield, and not a moment to soon. Just as he blocked with his shield several shots bounced off it. After they had all fired and were charging again he moved his shield and fired his charged shot at a group of sniper Joes, one was destroyed while the ones surrounding it were damaged by the explosion and thrown off balance. Rockman used this chance to unleash a flurry of rapid-fire shots destroying three more sniper Joes. He took cover behind a tree as they began to fire again. He glanced around the tree to see how many were left.  
  
"Damit" he grumbled," there are still ten of them" before he could say anything else two grenades landed next to him, one on either side.  
  
He didn't have time to dive out of the way before they exploded or even shield himself. He was rocketed away from the sniper Joes and away from the tree, which didn't escape the explosions unscathed, and landed feet away. He groaned, as he slowly turned onto his back only to see three busters pointed strait at his head. Before they had a chance to fire though all three of them were shot and destroyed, which was then followed by two more explosions. He quickly scrambled to his feet and was immediately thrown behind another tree by someone  
  
"Cant you stay alive for ten minutes without my help?" the person asked  
  
Rockman finally got a chance to see who his savior was" protoman!" he exclaimed," what are you doing here?" he asked  
  
"I could ask you the same question" the red robot replied" I got some information about a tournament here and decided to check it out how bout you?"  
  
"I just got some information about a tournament held by wily, and this was the only place I could think of"  
  
"Looks like you guessed right" protoman said grinning  
  
"Have you seen forte around here?" rockman asked," he and I were working together on this but we got separated"  
  
Protoman's grin widened" you and forte?" he said obviously amused by the prospect" he hates your guts, why the heck is he helping you?"  
  
"We are just working together to take down wily" he replied  
  
"Well I might help but right now my main objective is to find out any information on the computer the geezer has here, his fortress computes are very heavily guarded, I'm hoping for it to have light security as he wont be here long"  
  
"Um wouldn't he usually guard those computers with robot masters?" rockman asked  
  
"Ya and lots of em" protoman replied  
  
"Well aren't all the robot masters, you know, in the tournament"  
  
"Yes but I suspect he has every possible defense up and an army of robots guarding it, not to mention an entire ceiling of auto guns. I tried to break in there once id rather not relive the experience"  
  
"We should find forte and get wily, there will be a lot of robot masters and we will probably need his help"  
  
Protoman nodded" but first we gotta take care of these rust buckets" he said motioning to the other side of the tree. Just then a grenade fell in between them and one on either side of them.  
  
~in the arena~  
  
Quick man stood staring down his lightly colored opponent. He was the only one to ever rival quick mans speed.  
  
"Your fast turbo man but not fast enough" he said grinning" if you cant out run someone you're as good as dead. I on the other hand can fight even without being faster than my opponent"  
  
"Mock me while you can" turbo man replied," ill retire you just like I did fire man, your both out dated relics"  
  
"Are you both ready?" wily asked. Both fighters nodded, getting ready to bolt the second the match started" then let the first match of the semifinals BEGIN"  
  
Both fighters immediately dashed, quick man away from his opponent and turbo man toward his. Turbo man turned into a car to get to his maximum speed, despite the sacrifice of agility and defense. Quick man had already hit turbo man with several quick boomerangs, and now that he was in his racecar mode it was much easier. When turbo man started toward quick man in an attempt to ram him quick man continued firing with one hand while readying his giant boomerang in his other. Quick man was about to swing his giant boomerang when turbo man suddenly changed and leapt into the air. He immediately activated his fire wheel and hurled it at quick man. Quick man screamed as the flames engulfed him. As soon as he landed turbo man created another fire wheel, but this time ran toward him rather than firing it in an attempt to win this match the same way he did the last one. But the fire wheal engulfing quick man died down quick enough to give him time to put some distance between the two fighters. His armor was almost completely gone, along with most of the cloth underneath. What remained of the cloth and armor was welded to his skin and all of the skin exposed was severally burned. Fortunately for quick man his quick launcher was still working, unfortunately his giant boomerang had ben dropped when he was hit by fire wheal and he hadn't picked it up. He immediately brought up his arm and fired some quick boomerangs; unfortunately they were all melted before they reached turbo man  
  
Crap he thought I can't attack him with my boomerangs my quick boomerangs near him and, just beautiful only 35% of normal speed output this is just fucking beautiful. I'm fucking doomed; if I attack him head on I get fried. If I sit here and wait, he attacks and I'm still fried he thinks for a moment well I guess there's only one choice left  
  
He stood there looking at turbo man a moment longer then dashed toward him as fast as e could  
  
"Heh you're a real fool aren't you" turbo man said" your legs are far to weak to dodge my fire wheal" as he ran towards him he grabbed his giant boomerang which was on the way" you cant cut my attack and you know it!" turbo man shouted as he unleashed his fire wheal.  
  
Its only flaw was that turbo man couldn't see through his own attack after it was fired he didn't see quick man plow right through the attack, ignoring the pain and pushing his body to dangerous levels, he pushed his body to run as fast as it could in its current state  
  
Screw what my systems say he thought  
  
He emerged from the other side of the fire wheal going at 110% of his normal speed. He grinned as he saw the look of shock and horror on turbo mans face who could do nothing but watch as quick man cleaved him in two.  
  
Unfortunately for quick man his over clocking his systems caused them to shut down to conserve energy and he was unable too stop. He crashed to the ground and skidded several feet  
  
"God dam those internal systems," he grumbled  
  
~a half an hour later~  
  
Shadow man walked into the arena at the same time as shade man who came from the opposite side of the arena. The wind whipped the end of shadow mans wrappings around which would have normally reached down to the ground while shade mans wings swayed slightly with the wind. They both stopped in the middle starring at each other  
  
"I'm glad I got a chance to fight you" shadow man stated," now I can prove who the real master of the darkness is"  
  
Shade man smiled, bearing his fangs" ill suck the life out of you just like I did that pitiful flash man"  
  
"Are the both of you ready?" wily asked through the speakers. Both of the fighters nodded" then let the second and final match of the semifinals BEGIN"  
  
Shadow man immediately began throwing his shadow blades at shade man while dashing toward him. Shade man immediately fired his noise crusher at the ground, which immediately bounced it back, charging his weapon. To avoid the shadow blades he leapt into the air moments before they sliced the now vacant space. From his place above the field he fired his noise crusher at shadow man, missing each time. But his shots were getting closer and closer, especially the charged ones. When shade man fired a charged shot ahead of shadow man that probably would have hit him, shadow man stopped dead in his tracks. He hurled several shadow blades at shade man then immediately dashed under him and strait up at him. Shade man was able to easily dodge the shadow blades, but unfortunately for him he noticed shadow man a little to late. He was able to escape the assault with only a gash strain up his torso, but it wasn't fatal. Unfortunately for shadow man, the attack didn't have the desired affect. H had expected to kill shade man, or at least faze him until he reached the ground. But one of the blasts he had fired at the ground before shadow man had stopped had come back to shade man which charged his gun, and the falling shadow man was a sitting duck. He attempted to throw some shadow blades, but they were easily knocked aside by the noise crusher, which wasn't even slowed. Shade man also fired his paralysis beams from his eyes. They were slow moving but shadow man had ben disoriented by his wall and was hit b the beams. Shade man didn't waist a second and immediately flew down grabbing shadow man. The talons on his feet sank into shadow mans flesh and circuitry causing his armor to break and crumble under the powerful grip. Bringing him up above the arena his sank his fangs through the fabric surrounding shadow mans neck, into his neck. He began draining power from shadow man, replenishing what he had lost from being sliced. Shadow man quickly regained control though and was able to break free of shade mans grip and land safely. Unfortunately he had ben drained quite a bit, from the noise crasher, the talons tearing into his shoulders, and his energy being drained, he had almost no energy left, his systems were about to shut down and they both knew it. He quickly looked around for his sword. Spotting it nearby he snatched it up and immediately faced shade man. He hadn't moved he. Shadow man looked up at shade man who was staring down at him with a triumphant grin, his attack had completely backfired. Shade man landed and walked casually toward shadow man. He knew shadow man could barely hold his sword, let alone swing it.  
  
"Well well well" he said grinning" look at the 'master of darkness' now. Got anything before I finish you?"  
  
"Go.to hell" shadow man said barely awake  
  
Shade man grinned as he readied his eye beams, could never be too careful. Unfortunately for shade man he should have skipped that precaution. Shadow man brought up his sword just in time to reflect the beam back at shade man; it hit him right in the eyes.  
  
Shade man stood frozen from the beams except for a few systems" h-how? You shouldn't be able to reflect it back." He whispered  
  
Shadow man grinned" diranium reflects any and all.matter in an energy state"  
  
"D diranium? Were the hell did you get that?" shade man asked astonished  
  
"Ask the devil.when you get to hell" shadow man said as he brought his sword to his shoulder and sliced shade mans head clean off, contaminating the ground with another bioroids blood.  
  
~a couple of minutes later~  
  
From his special lab above all the other rooms in the stadium wily watched with a large grin as his two greatest robot masters trudged onto the field. The wind kicked up dust around them as they both advanced toward each other, stopping in the middle of the stadium.  
  
"Hello quick man" shadow man said, nodding his head  
  
"Hello shadow" quick man said returning the nod" why don't you just quit now, you know you don't stand a chance. Ill crush you like I crushed all the others foolish enough to fight me"  
  
"I can think of one who managed to win" shadow man mocked  
  
"You lost to him as well" quick man returned" Besides, there is no way he would win in a fight with me now. Just like you"  
  
"Ill not lose to the likes of you" shadow man growled as he glared at quick man  
  
"Alright" wily intervened" a very good job, both of you. You have both made it to the final round and proven you are strong. But the question is, which of you is the strongest? This fight will determine that, and the winner of this tournament. For this match, it is not over until one of you is DEAD so begging for mercy wont get you anywhere. If one of you doesn't die then the fight doesn't end. Now, are both fighters ready?" he shouted. They both nodded, not ever taking there eyes off each other" then let the championship match BEGIN"  
  
~meanwhile, outside~  
  
Forte, protoman, and rockman stood in the empty room confronted with three passageways.  
  
"Just our luck" forte grumbled  
  
"I don't suppose would you know the interior of this place as well, would you forte?" rockman asked grimly  
  
Forte shook his head" this place was built before me," he said" I guess we will each have to take one" the others nodded" ill take the one on the right" he said  
  
"I guess ill take the left" protoman said as they both started walking  
  
Rockman stood there a moment longer then sighed" I guess I'm stuck with the center then" he said as he headed down the only hallway left  
  
~a few moments later~  
  
Forte walked into a large room and the door immediately shut tightly behind him  
  
"Typical wily" he muttered as he glanced behind him  
  
He looked ahead to see two robot masters standing in front of him. The first one was much larger. His body resembled a keg with a large thruster on the bottom. He was completely blue with a large cylindrical head. His armor was completely blue except or a large orange gem in the center of his chest. He was hard man  
  
The other robot master was shorter and had only a chest plate for armor on his torso. His gauntlets and boots were pretty standard except instead of hands he had two large drills. His armor was entirely red and on top of his helmet was another large drill. He was drill man.  
  
"Lovely" forte grumbled," so are you two going to commit suicide or just step aside?" forte asked grinning  
  
"Your going down forte" drill man chimed" I'm gonna frill you so full of holes they wont be able to make scrap metal of you"  
  
Forte started firing at the two with his forte buster immediately. The two, in turn, responded with there own weapons. Forte was easily able to jump over their weapons and avoid them while keeping them under fire. Drill man suddenly jumped up and turned upside down as he came down, using his drills to bore a hole strait into the ground.  
  
Forte grinned devilishly as he got an idea "Hey hard man" he shouted" I bet you've gotten rusty over the years' there's no way you could hit me with your tackle"  
  
"O ya? Well ill show you" hard man grumbled though forte. Knowing hard man wasn't the smartest of the robot masters, already knew his answer  
  
Hard man leapt high into the air with the help of his thrusters and sped towards forte. When he was directly above forte he quickly changed his course and went downwards directly at forte. Of course forte had ben expecting this and dove out of the way just as hard man came down and drill man came up. The two collided and there was a large explosion. When the smoke cleared forte saw the both of their bodies lying in a pile with both their heads missing. He grinned as he walked through the only other door in the room aside from the one he entered through.  
  
~at the same time~  
  
Protoman walked through the doors and was confronted by five sniper Joes. Normally he would have simply laughed at them, but these were no ordinary sniper Joes. These were the new sniper mkII units, he could tell by the purple color schemes. He had faced them before, they were deadly. Not quite as powerful as robot master but they always traveled in groups of at least three and used deadly tactics. They were much smarter than normal sniper Joes and they moved around a lot. There firepower was much greater than normal sniper Joes and there armor was much thicker. Unfortunately all of these add-ons didn't make it any slower, in fact just the opposite. They were faster and had a better rate of fire than normal sniper Joes.  
  
"Craptaculer" he groaned  
  
Protoman immediately took out his shield and began moving, making sure to not get surrounded or cornered. Despite his efforts they managed to get on all sides of him and began raining down a hail of shots onto him. Protoman was using all his skill and training just to stay alive when he suddenly got an idea. He stopped firing at the robots and charged up his buster, focusing mainly on avoiding hits. When it was finally ready he gripped his shield tightly and hurled it at the nearest snipers head. He then unleashed his charged shot toward another. The charged shot sped across the room, disintegrating the other robots plasma shots. Using his shot as cover he ran over the stunned robot he had thrown his shield at. Grabbing the shield, which had landed in front of the robot, he glanced at the robot and noticed a large hole in its head, probably from the shield. He placed his blaster right on the hole and fired it over and over until the robots head exploded. By that time the other robots had restarted their bombardment, but his shield was on his back blocking their shots. Using this tactic he was able to easily defeat the mkII's quickly and quickly ran to the rooms exit to see where the end of the passage was.  
  
~meanwhile~  
  
Rockman walked through the huge metal door common with robot masters and guardians. Unfortunately he was confronted with a dead end.  
  
"Beautiful" he mumbled as he turned to leave  
  
Unfortunately the door had already shut and was sealed tight  
  
"What the heck" he said aloud. He heard a low humming noise from behind him and whirled around to see the wall was actually a giant robot!" what the heck?!" he exclaimed  
  
The giant robot produced cannons and turrets of all shapes and sizes from all over its body, and where there wasn't a gun there was a missile pack. Rockman's eyes widened as he saw this and he wished he still had his shield from before. He immediately dove out of the way of the machines initial shots, firing at it as much as he could. Unfortunately his shots didn't seem to damage the robot in the least. He looked for a weak spot on the robot, there always was one. After firing for a while at every inch of the robot he could he noticed one shot did some damage. He had shot a large crystal inside the barrel of the main cannon, which cracked it. He concentrated his fir there and after a few more shots the gem broke and the gun exploded. Rockman grinned as the guns around it powered down. Suddenly four much smaller gems came out in protective cases, one in each corner. The guns quickly went on and began firing once more. Rockman was forced to repeat the same process he did with the main cannon. Unfortunately when he was about to destroy the first gem it suddenly began to glow. It shot from its resting place strait at rockman. He tried to dive out of the way but the gem exploded, throwing him against the wall. He groaned as he got up, only to be hit by a hail of gunfire. He dropped down again and the gunfire stopped. It seemed the guns only detected movement.  
  
Maybe if I move slowly enough he though they wont pick me up  
  
He cautiously stood up, trying to move as slowly as possible. It worked! He charged up his buster and slowly brought his arm up, pointing it at the nearest gem the one on the bottom left. All of the guns began to retract back into the huge robot, and just after they did the gems started to. Rockman chose that moment to strike. He unleashed his super shot and let down a hail of rapid-fire shots on the nearest gem. Before the guns could begin firing and before the gem could shoot itself at him the gem exploded in place, producing a large hole in the robot. Without the support of the lower left part of the robot the upper left part collapsed to the floor, joining the other parts. He again stood perfectly still so as to make t he guns think he was gone. The guns stayed fixed on his position for a long while then slowly retracted again. Rockman had already charged his cannon again and was aiming at the only lower crystal left. When the guns had all gone back in the robot again rockman repeated his previous attack and, as expected, the upper part collapsed after the lower part exploded. He grinned at the large heap of robot and climbed over it to find another door.  
  
~a few seconds later~  
  
Rockman came out of the hallway into a large room. He saw that there were three passages aside from the one he came from. Two were on either side of his coming from the same direction as the one he came from. The other one was directly across from his and he could see a light at the end of it. He suddenly heard footsteps coming from the hallways on either side of him and backed back into the passageway, preparing for another fight. He was relieved to see forte and protoman coming from either side.  
  
"I see you guys made it," he said  
  
They both turned there heads, surprised to see him" you just worry about yourself, remember I'm the one who's gonna kill you no one else" forte grumbled" now lets get going there's only one passageway left thankfully, and it looks like an exit"  
  
"Hopefully to the arena or stands" protoman stated. The other two nodded and they began to run down the passage  
  
When they came to the end, they found themselves standing in the huge stadium's arena. They looked to the center and saw shadow man and quick man fighting. Quick man was missing his right arm after the elbow and shadow man was missing his entire left arm.  
  
All three of them raised there guns and yelled" HOLD IT!"  
  
~a few miniutes earlier~  
  
Before wily even finished saying begin the two had dashed away from each other, quick man shooting his quick boomerangs, and shadow man his shadow blades. They continued there long range barrage of each other for a long while, slowly easing toward each other, each taking just as many hits as the other. When they were about ten feet away from each other they stopped firing and charged strait at each other. Shadow man gripped the hilt of his sword while quick man grabbed his giant boomerang. Both of them swung as they met and the two weapons met each other. CLANG. The both of them stood there trying to push the others weapon away with there own. They were looking directly at each other with not even a foot between their faces. Both of them could see the lust for battle and the want to prove themselves in the others eyes, burning as brightly as there own desires.  
  
"Ill crush you" quick man growled  
  
"That'll be a cold day in hell" shadow man retorted  
  
They both pushed away from each other and began hurling there small weapons at each other while keeping there bigger weapons in there hands, occasionally coming in and striking at each other with them. Eventually they both charged forward swinging their blades, but this time they did not meet. When they stopped both of there blades were bloodied. Shadow man had ben cut on the arm, cutting off a piece of cloth and flesh, while quick man had a wound in his side about an inch and a half deep. They both began to bleed staining their armor with blood. They turned their heads to look at each other for a moment the whirled around and dashed at each other, again the blades didn't meet. Instead of running past each other the two stayed in the center trying to slice each other. The both of them received a significant damage, and shadow mans bandages were now all around his neck leaving his head completely exposed. Shadow man suddenly created two shadow blades with his left and began using them to try and slice quick man, in addition to his sword. To counter this, quick man began firing his quick boomerangs as fast as ho could. The quick boomerangs caused quick man to lose his balance a little but he managed to stay on his feet. After firing a few volleys of quick boomerangs quick man swung his giant boomerang with all his might, in an attempt to knock shadow man down. He succeeded. Shadow man was thrown back by the force of the blow and flew a few feet before landing. He looked up just in time to roll out of the way to the left as quick man brought his giant boomerang down on where his head was. Unfortunately his left arm was caught by it as he rolled and was sliced clean, off spilling his blood everywhere. Ignoring the pain brought his sword around with his right hand as he rolled. He cut off quick mans right arm at the elbow sending his opponents blood to join his own. Quick man screamed in pain as he stumbled backwards, though he didn't let go of his giant boomerang to grip it. He looked at shadow man with rage as he prepared to attack; shadow man had already gotten up and done the same. They stood there for a while, staring at each other. And as they did something happened. A certain respect and acknowledgment for each other's powers that they had lacked before. As the rage slowly left both their eyes, grins slowly crept over both of their faces as they stared at each other. The two of them nodded at each other and were about to charge each other once more when they suddenly heard three all to familiar voices yell  
  
"HOLD IT!"  
  
The two of them both looked to see forte, protoman, and rockman all standing in one of the many entrances, all pointing fully charged busters at the pair. Menacing laughter was suddenly heard over the intercom  
  
"Hello rockman, protoman, and my old friend bass. I'm glad you could all make it" he said as robot masters started pouring into the arena from every entrance, and the one behind them slammed shut" don't tell me you thought all me robot masters were destroyed in the tournament did you?" he asked" iv got a total of fifteen robot masters here. Not including the two fighters of the championship you see in front of you of course. You may have been able to defeat my guards but these robot masters will be much harder. Even the three of you together cant defeat them" wily taunted  
  
"Is that so?" forte asked as a wicked grin appeared on his face" well lets just that little theory why don't we"  
  
Rockman and protoman let off there super shots. Forte however was unable to charge his forte buster and simply sprayed his foes with shots from his gun like buster. They all scattered and began pelting the large group of robot masters as much as they could. While the robot masters also scattered and tried to destroy the trio. While all this happened shadow man and quick man quickly got off the field and up to wilys lab.  
  
~A few moments later in wilys lab~  
  
The two damaged robot masters walked into the room to find wily with his back to them  
  
"Ah good your both here" he said as he turned to face them" I'm afraid your comrades don't stand a chance against all three of them, despite what I said. I do however have a plan to defeat them," he said as an evil smile played across his face" you both remember the scanner you stole yes?" they both nodded" well, I've managed to modify it. It no longer scans things. Instead, it now uses its waves to send a deadly virus. Its specially made to only hurt bioroids," he said as he pulled out the modified scanner" it only needs to connect to transfer the virus, it doesn't take any time. It works by tricking the mechanical parts of a boiroid to force his organic parts to make an organic virus. After it does this, the bioroid will die without the antidote. Because of the nature of the virus sent, as soon as it forces the organic parts to make the organic virus it is sought out by the boiroids systems and destroyed. Unfortunately I still have some work to finish on it, so I cant use it just yet. I'm telling you both this because you're going to help me get him. While it doesn't take any time to transfer the virus it does take time to charge the machine. You two will distract him while it's charging. Sorry but I don't trust anyone with such a delicate machine, not even my robot masters" he held up two vials" these are the antidotes, since you two will both probably be hit with the virus as well you will need them" he said as he handed the vials to them" now come" he said" iv got a ship waiting to take us back to my fortress, I'm giving you both upgrades"  
  
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That's it for this chapter. Again I'm really sorry it's taken so long to post this and ill try to not take so long from now on. Please keep reading and REVIEW. I don't care if it's a bad review or good just please someone review. O well, until next time peace ( 


	6. zero

Disclaimer: I don't own rockman wily or any of the other characters mentioned in this fic they all belong to capcom so don't sue me  
  
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Hi all. I know I said id update more often but when you don't get any feedback you kinda lose motivation. Not only that but I constantly have a million new ideas popping into my head, ya I'm one of those people, so its hard to stay focused on one task for to long. Well the fic is almost done so ill be able to go onto different things soon. Ill try to have the last chapter up before winter break is over, but I'm not making any promises. So now I give you the second to last chapter of  
  
A Light from the Shadows  
  
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chapter five: zero  
  
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Shadow man lay on a cold metal table in the middle of a lab. Everything was dark and the only things he could see was wily looking down at him, and quick man on similar table next to him.  
  
"Now" wily said suddenly as he began to turn and walk away" I'm going to equip you BOTH with the new weapons system, and something else" he said turning his head to look at them" Its brand new. I call it an emergency offensive system, or eos. It's a special program that, when you are in grave danger, you can divert power to activating it. It will perform a special function like greatly increased speed, or a very powerful attack, but it take extreme amounts of energy to use and drain's your supplies. After one use you systems will immediately shut down from the shortage of energy, so don't use it at your leisure, though the more energy you have still the longer the effects last, or the more powerful the attack" he turned his entire body to face them" are you both ready?" he asked  
  
"Yes master wily" they both chimed in unison  
  
Wily nodded" then shut down, ill activate you again when I'm done" both robots complied and shut down there systems  
  
~a few hours later~  
  
"CLANG"  
  
Shadow man bolted upright and looked to see what had happened. He saw wily tinkering with the scanner/virus transmitter, and a tool he didn't know the name of on the ground  
  
"Ah shadow man" wily said as he turned toward him" sorry if I woke you"  
  
Shadow man sat still for a moment before shaking his head" its alright" he said" how did the operation go?" he asked  
  
"Flawlessly" wily said as he turned back to the machine" you both have the weapons system AND the eos. Also you can now charge energie into your sword for a more powerful strike"  
  
"So what's my eos?" he asked  
  
"Yours is called the shadow strike" wily said" power will be diverted to your sword, giving you the power to cut virtually anything in two with one swing"  
  
"Virtually?" shadow man asked  
  
"Well a fifty foot solid block of diranium wouldn't let you cut to far but I don't think you need to worry about that, it can cut bioroids and robot easily. And if you miss and don't deliver a killing blow, it also sends them a virus that powers them down until the virus is remover, its easily removed but it must be don't from someone other than the victim"  
  
Shadow man nodded  
  
"Quick man woke a little while ago. He said to tell you he was going to try and copy some robot masters abilities, and train them. You should do the same"  
  
Shadow man nodded, despite the fact wily had his back to him, and got up and left.  
  
~somewhere in the fortress~  
  
Shadow man walked down a random corridor, looking for robot masters. Most of them were all scrap from the tournament and the little firefight that ended it. a few managed to escape though, and wily had machines working to rebuild the others. So far he had met only two robot masters, flash man and guts man. the newly rebuild flash man put up a bit of a fight before he finally gave in and let shadow man copy his power. Guts man, not wanting to fight one of the two champions, simply let him copy his power without a fight.  
  
Shadow man stopped as he heard a sudden whirring behind him that was getting louder. Whatever it was it was closing in fast. He whirled around to see a red and gold tornado whirling toward him. He had just enough time to jump out of the way before the tornado smashed into him. The tornado suddenly stopped moving, and gradually stopped spinning. When it had stopped shadow man saw who it had not ben stop man as he had suspected.  
  
"Quick man" he said astonished" I how did you get that power?" he asked" top man was only just rebuild. Not even 30 minutes ago according to the computer"  
  
"I was waiting for him" quick man said with a board grin" I was hoping for a little test duel now that we have these new abilities"  
  
Shadow man chuckled" I found flash man" he said  
  
Quick mans grin vanished for a second then returned" that cant kill me" he said  
  
"It can damage you severely and give me a chance to slice you to pieces with my sword" he replied  
  
"Perhaps we should test this theory" quick man said putting a hand on his giant boomerang  
  
Shadow man gripped his sword and took a step forward with one foot. He was about to dash toward quick man when they both heard an all to familiar voice in there communicators.  
  
"Quick man, shadow man, I need you I the test lab IMEDIETLY. You have got to see this" wily said franticly  
  
~in wilys lab~  
  
Next to wilys lab there was a huge room wily used to test robots and anything that might be dangerous. His labs floor was about eight feet below the testing rooms ceiling. The room was large and rectangular, about 80 feet in height, about 100 feet in width and about 50 feet in depth, with the longest side facing wilys lab. Where the two rooms met there was a huge window spanning the entire length. Both quick man and shadow man had ben in that room, tested for there combat capabilities. Though they were both much stronger now.  
  
Wily was standing at the center of the window looking down in awe at what was in the room. The both of them walked over to the window and looked down to see what he was looking at. They saw the walls were covered with oil and blood and the ground was littered with parts from various robot masters. The only living thing in the room was a slash man, so drenched with his enemies fluids that you couldn't even see any of his original colors, and his eyes glowing blood red.  
  
"W what the hell is that?!" quick man asked horrified as he backed away from the window  
  
"That" wily said as he turned his head toward him" is the virus from the scanner. The zero virus" they could both see the insanity in wilys eyes as he grinned devilishly at the carnage below, not showing the least bit of pity for the dead robot masters" before now iv only put the virus in normal robots, and each time they all died. But when I put it into a bioroid," his grin broadened" they go insane with rage and want only to kill and destroy. I sent ten robot masters in there including freeze man, the one slash mans weak to, and they were all slaughtered by slash man, they didn't stand a chance, not even all of them together, how fast do you think he can kill rockman?"  
  
"I think we should kill slash and destroy the virus permanently" shadow man said" that thing is to dangerous, it could destroy the world"  
  
"I know" wily said" isn't that grand?"  
  
"G GRAND?!?" quick man shouted" I thought you were out to conquer the world not destroy it!"  
  
"I did" wily said grinning" for the first few wars. But after a while I just hated the world so much, I want to blow it up, BLOW IT ALL UP. KILL THEM ALL HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA"  
  
The two looked down into the room at the insane robot, knowing they were powerless to stop wily thanks to there programming  
  
"Now wily said turning to them" neither of you are aloud to even leave this fortress until I say so, NO ONE is to know of this virus" he commanded, they could now see the pure insanity in his face" The plan is the same, the cure still works, the only difference is that now. As soon as rockman is infected, we get out of the city and let the world be destroyed by its hero. Then when alls said and done we will leave this planet and blow it bits"  
  
~a few minute later~  
  
Quick man and shadow man lay next to each other, shadow mans head without its wrappings, in a place resembling a park, though it was in the middle of the fortress. They both thought it odd that a man like wily would have such a place, but didn't complain. They were on a hill near the bottom, just below them there was a stream, and there was a tree giving them shade from the sun which beat down on the only room it could get to in the entire fortress.  
  
".What are we gonna do?" quick man asked  
  
"I don't know" shadow man replied" the only thing we can do I guess, do as we are told and hope wily fails"  
  
"You know wily wont fail unless he's stopped, and we are the only ones who can stop him" quick man replied  
  
Shadow man sighed" yes, but we cant do anything thanks to our programming"  
  
They lay in silence for a moment until quickman stood up" iv.got to go" he stated simply" ill see you when its time for the mission"  
  
Shadow man sat up, surprised at his friends sudden action" huh? Where are you going?" he asked  
  
"Iv.got some work to finish before the mission" he said as he walked away  
  
"O.ok" shadow man said with suspicion in his voice as he lay back down.  
  
~an hour later in wilys lab~  
  
Shadow man and quickman stood next to each other with wily in a giant machine and four robot masters sitting in various places on it. On the top left was napalm man, below him was elec man, next to him was crash man, and above him was search man. with wily on the top, I the middle.  
  
"Are you all ready?" he asked  
  
"Yes master wily" they all said in unison  
  
"Quick, shadow do you both have your antidotes?" he asked, they both showed him there vials" then lets get going" he said giddily" I want to see the looks on the peoples faces when there hero attacks them" they all teleported out.  
  
~moments later~  
  
Shadow man and quickman sat on top of the machine while wily and the other four robot masters fired away at the city  
  
"DESTROY EVERYTHING" wily shouted" RAISE THE CITY TO THE GROUND, KILL EVERYONE"  
  
Shadow man heard an all to familiar sound and grabbed his sword. He whirled around swinging his sword, just in time to deflect a super shot. Wily and the robot masters stopped firing and looked behind them to see rockman, merged with rush. Shadow man whirled around again, swinging his sword, and deflected another super shot from the front. It was protoman  
  
"there's two but where is the last on? He whispered" as if to answer his question a rain plasma shots came down onto the machine from above. He looked up to see forte merged with treble.  
  
The four robot masters on the machine started firing at proto man and forte, but left rockman alone. And the giant robot rather than, rather than attack, seemed to power down.  
  
"You know what to do" wily said to shadow man and quickman, they both nodded and jumped off  
  
rockman stood unmoving, though still charging his buster, as shadow man and quickman walked toward him  
  
"Hello rockman" shadow man said as he nodded at him  
  
"Hello" he replied" I know this isn't just a random attack" he stated" its not wilys style, there must be another reason for attacking"  
  
Quickman nodded" there is"  
  
"Your not gonna tell me are you?" he said  
  
"wilys gonna do that" shadow man stated as the two of them stopped right in front of rockman  
  
They starred at each other for a long while" are you going to fight back?" shadow man asked.  
  
Rockman nodded" I suppose I don't have a choice do I?" he said  
  
Quickman shook his head as he grabbed his giant boomerang" sorry rockman" he said" but we have to do this"  
  
Shadow man and quickman both dashed strait at rockman, both swinging there weapons. Rockman, however, jumped over them and fired a charged shot at shadow man, hitting him in the back. Shadow man stumbled a little bit before turning around and throwing some shadow blades. At the same time quickman fired his quick boomerangs. Shadow man ran over to a nearby building, or what remained of it. he choose the largest piece of rubble he could find and activated his super arm. He slowly lifted the huge piece of rubble over his head, unfortunately for him rockman noticed him. Rockman fired a charged shot that hit shadow man square in the chest, causing him to drop fall backwards and drop the huge stone. Fortunately for him he was able to grab his sword and slice the piece of rubble to bits, which fell harmlessly around him. Unfortunately they had still cause a chunk of loose cement to fall down, right above shadow mans head. Shadow man rolled out of the way in time to avoid the rock hitting his head, but It still snagged his wrappings. Not wanting to waist super arms energy, he simply cut the end of his wrappings instead of moving the rock, causing them to fall around his neck, as they were no longer held in place. Quickman who had men dodging and firing all this whole time finally decided to use on of his master weapons. He grabbed his giant boomerang of his back and activated to spin. Holding the blade out like a propeller, though angled downward so he wouldn't gain altitude, he spun around at blinding speeds and shot toward rockman. Rockman, forced to divert all his attention to quick man immediately began dodging him as best he could. He knew if he was caught by that blade he would be cut to ribbons. After a few moments quickman finally broke off pursuit and went over to shadow man, whom he stopped next to. They both starred at rockman, and at the giant robot behind him, and rockman starred back oblivious the virus wily was about to send his systems.  
  
".Sorry rockman" shadow man said as he lowered his head  
  
"Huh sorry? For wh-" rockman stopped in mid sentence and whirled around to see wily pointing the fully charged scanner at them  
  
"Goodbye rockman" he said grinning as he shot the virus at them  
  
They could all feel the virus enter them and begin its work, but before anyone could do anything quickman shouted" ROCKMAN CATCH"  
  
He threw a vial of the antidote to rockman who caught it" drink it quick" he said" it's the antidote" rockman complied and downed the vial.  
  
Wily starred in horror at what had just happened, he didn't have the power to fire another shot of the virus! He clenched his teeth in rage and slammed his fists down onto the controls" QUICKMAN" he screamed" WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"  
  
Quickman grinned as he produced another vial of the antidote" I made another antidote" he said  
  
"Quickman" he growled" activate your self destruct sequence NOW"  
  
Quickman stood unmoving for a moment before saying one simple thing that defied physics  
  
"No"  
  
Everyone stopped fighting and starred in astonishment  
  
"W what?" wily asked, his rage appearing to have left  
  
"I.said no" he stated simply" I wont do it, and I wont follow your orders ever again"  
  
Shadow man stood a moment astonished" quick.you cant..its not possible"  
  
Quick man downed his own vial of the antidote and said" we are able to learn aren't we? Well I learned to defy my programming"  
  
"But you cant.that's impossible" shadow man whispered  
  
"Then how did I do it?" he asked  
  
a rain of fire suddenly came down onto quickman as the four robot masters on the giant robot, none of them had been killed, unloaded massive amounts of fire onto quickman alone. Quickman was rocketed back into what was left of a wall, which then crumbled under the sudden force of quickman and some shots that missed him  
  
It began to rain  
  
"QUICK" shadow man shouted as he dashed over to where his friend lay  
  
he found him laying in a pile of rubble. He quickly pulled the stones off of him and lifted his head. He was badly damaged. His armor was almost completely gona except for some of his left boot and the giant boomerang that was laying beside him, still in one piece.  
  
"Quick" he whispered  
  
quickman slowly opened his eyes" hey" he whispered  
  
"Don't talk" shadow man said" save your strength  
  
"Don't kid yourself" quickman said" you know I'm not gonna make it, even if I could live with the proper treatment, wily is the only one who could do it"  
  
Tears began streaming down shadow mans face" no" he whispered" you cant.not after we came so far"  
  
Quick man grinned as he held up his had" take them" he said" take them all"  
  
"I wont need them" shadow man said" cause your not gonna die"  
  
"Stop it" quick man said as he grabbed shadow mans arm and began transferring his weapons data" I'm going to die.there's no stopping it" he said" but.before I go.do one things for me."he whispered, obviously fading from life fast  
  
"Sure anything" shadow man said" just name it"  
  
"Don't let anyone.be your master.ever again," he said as he smiled weakly" brother"  
  
Shadowman starred down at him" brother" he whispered as quickman finished transferring his weapons data  
  
"Good.bye" quickman whispered as his eyes fluttered closed  
  
Shadow mans eyes widened in alarm" quick QUICK" he shouted as he began shaking him. After a moment he pulled quick mans body close and embraced him  
  
"BROTHEEEEEEER"  
  
He sat there for a moment, holding quick mans limp body, both of them soaked from tears and rain  
  
"Shadowman" wily shouted" enough mourning. Crush his body with a rock and kill rockman NOW"  
  
Shadowman slowly let quick mans body slide to the ground and stood up, but didn't move after that  
  
"Did you not hear me?" wily shouted" I said crush his body and kill rockman NOW"  
  
Shadowman slowly turned his head to look at wily, and what wily saw struck terror into his cold black heard  
  
his eyes were glowing blood red  
  
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Well what do you think? There is one chapter left to type and I promise I will have it done before winter break is over if I get some reviews. also note that I changed from "quick man" and "shadow man" to "quickman" and "shadowman" partway through. It did have symbolism and a cookie to anyone who can figure what it was. And note that I never said shadow man drank his vial. Well I hope this holds you over till I finish the final chapter but until then, peace (. 


	7. hope

Disclaimer: I don't own rockman shadowman or any of the other characters mentioned in this they all belong to capcom so don't sue me  
  
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Hi all. I know I said I might not even have this up until after Christmas break but I got real board and decided I might as well type this up and get it over with. So quickmans dead shadow mans infected with the zero virus and wily forte protoman and megaman are all with him in the city. If ten robot masters couldn't defeat an inferior robot master infected with the zero viruses, how can they stop shadowman even if they work together? Will they even stop him at all? To find out read the last chapter of  
  
A Light from the Shadows  
  
Ps: this chapter will be slightly shorter than the others  
  
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Chapter six: hope  
  
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Shadowman stood there for a moment, starring at wily. The virus had made his hatred for wily burn all the more fiercely, and wily knew it. He turned and dashed strait at the huge machine, his gaze fixed on wily.  
  
"You're going to die," he screamed in the cruelest vilest voice any of them ever heard.  
  
"W we have to get out of here!" wily shouted as he tried to activate the huge robots teleporter.  
  
Unfortunately for him the machine didn't have enough power to teleport after infecting three people with the virus.  
  
SHING  
  
Shadow man thrust his sword through the super durable glass covering wilys compartment in the robot.  
  
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE KILL HIM" wily screamed at his robot masters, who all reluctantly complied.  
  
Search man and napalm man were the first to get on top of the huge machine as they were on the closer to the top. Shadowman pulled his sword out of the glass and dashed at napalm man. With one swing he cut off his hands/cannons and the cannon on his head, after which he sliced off napalm mans head, causing him to fall off the robot, he exploded when he hit the ground. Shadow man immediately jumped backwards and landed behind search man who had just fired a shot at where he had just ben. He quickly swung at search mans waist and cut him in two, his parts befalling the same as napalm mans. By now crash man and elec man had both gotten on top of the machine and began firing their weapons at shadowman. In the blink of an eye he was behind the two of them and sliced them both in two, there parts falling to join there comrades. He turned to wilys compartment and sliced the glass open. But to his misfortune found that wily had escaped while he was fighting the robot masters. He let out a blood curtaliong howl and began slicing the circuitry until fires and explosions started to engulf the robot, at which point he jumped off it and landed in front of it, facing forte and protman, both guns aimed strait at him. He growled as he dashed at them with blinding speed while avoiding t here shots with ease. Before he knew it shadowman was right in front of protoman. He had just enough time to bring up his shield to block. He stumbled backwards from the force of the blow and kept his shield up and shadowman kept swinging his sword. Meanwhile forte came up behind him and put his blaster to the back of shadowman's head.  
  
"Bye byeeeaaaaaaaAAAA" forte screamed as shadowman whirled around, ducking under his blaster as he sank his blade into forte's stomache.  
  
After he pulled his blade out forte stumbled back a little, clutching his wound, until he fell down. Protoman attempted to use this opportunity to blast shadowman in the back, but shadowman was ready for it and turned around again, swinging his sword which deflected protomans charged shot back at him. The charged shot hit him in the chest and caused him to lose his balance for a moment. But a moment was all shadowman needed as he sliced diagonally across protoman's chest, sending him flying several feet. Protoman lay on the ground with a huge gash across his chest, and didn't get up.  
  
Shadowman grinned devilishly, until he heard something behind him. he whirled around to see rockman standing in front of him, holding a dart in his hand,  
  
"Wilys not here" he said" I took him back to his fortress and he gave me this dart full of antidote" he said as he held up the dart  
  
"You think I'm gonna let you put that in me?" shadowman growled  
  
"No" rockman replied" but I didn't plan on asking you" he said as he tightened his grip on the dart  
  
Shadowman grinned as he produced a shadow blade with his left and hurled it at the dart, but rockman was to fast and he caught the blade before it met its mark  
  
"im not gonna let you leave here infected" he said  
  
"Your not getting a choice!" shadow man shouted as he ran toward rockman. Rockman brought up his cannon to fire but before he fired shadow man had already jumped and was going over his head, unfortunately for shadow man rockman had expected this and when he landed he turned to meet a fully charged shot to the face. He screamed as he staggered backwards. Rockman didn't waist any time as he ran forward, trying to stick the dart into shadowman. Unfortunately shadowman whirled out of the way and tripped rockman as he stumbled forward. He managed to stop himself from falling down but couldn't avoid shadowmans sword as he sliced rockman in the back, sending him flying to the other side of the robots remains. He groaned as he got up but quickly came to his senses and looked around for shadowman. He spotted shadowman above him just in time to jump out of the way, away from the robot. He got up and immediately began firing his buster rapid fir at the insane robot master, and shadowman, in turn, swung his sword wildly hoping to strike rockman. After a while he started stabbing at rockman and the little blue bioroid decided to make a sacrifice. Letting one of the stabs strike him in the shoulder, he grabbed shadowmans arm and raised up his other arm to stab shadowman with the dart. Unfortunately shadow man was to strong for rockmans weakened arm and he pulled free. Using the momentum from when he pulled free he swung in a circle and brought his blade down vertically, cutting the dart in half and putting another large gash down rockmans torso. Rockman was again sent flying; this time into the same rubble pile as quick mans body. Shadow man stood for a moment, waiting for a sign of life among the rubble. Then, decideing rockman was dead he teleported to wilys fortress. But rockman wasn't dead. He lay in the ruble completely still, next to the body of quickman.  
  
So this is how it ends he thought this is where the beginning of the end starts.. I just wish..I wasn't so powerless.to stop him  
  
He sighed as he closed his eyes, waiting for the darkness to take him. when he heard a sound  
  
Tink tink tink  
  
He opened his eyes and looked to see what had caused the noise.  
  
He saw a small vial of hope.  
  
He starred at the little vial of antidote the explosions must have sent the little thing here he thought must be pretty resilient to have not shattered yet  
  
He looked around for a moment for something that could pierce shadow mans armor and skin. He spotted quickmans giant boomerang laying on the ground, still in one piece. That could work he thought if I can just cut him with it  
  
He listened to make sure shadowman was gone then stole a quick glance over the ruble to see if he was there, he wasn't. Must have gone to wilys he thought he's the one shadowman wants dead the most right now  
  
He snatched up the giant boomerang and the vial of antidote, and teleported to wilys lab  
  
~seconds later~  
  
Rockman arrived just outside of wilys main lab, and he peaked in to see what was in there. In the room he saw half of wilys robot masters standing in-between him and shadow man and the other half all over the lab, or parts of them at least. Rockman stared in disgust at the scene. Shadow man stood in the middle of the room, his hair, armor, skin, even the wrappings hanging around his neck, were all soaked with blood.  
  
"Why don't you just surrender wily?" he said in the same sinister voice as before" I just might make your torture a little shorter"  
  
Shadowman had his back to rockman so he could see the terror on wilys and all the other robot masters faces  
  
"I am going to destroy you all and everything else" he said.  
  
As he talked rockman snuck up behind him, pouring the antidote on the giant boomerang.  
  
Quickman he thought please help me hit him  
  
"I will be the end of all life I WILL BRING ARMAGEDIN!"  
  
"NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!" rockman cried as he swung the giant boomerang  
  
Shadowman turned his head to see his attacker. To shocked by the fact that rockman was alive to act rockman succeeded in slicing shadowman, and getting the antidote into him. Shadowman stumbled forward a few steps then looked back at the exhausted rockman  
  
"Y.you.you" he whispered as he was unable to get anything else out of his mouth as he starred in horror at the blade that had just cut him. He already began feeling the antidote going through his systems, purging them of the virus. His face changed from shock and terror to anger and rage.  
  
"YOU" he screamed as he lunged at rockman.  
  
Rockman rolled under shadow man as he lunged, cutting him again on the stomach. He ran through the group of robot masters to wily.  
  
"Common" he said" we gotta get out of here"  
  
"We cant" wily moped" there's an anti teleportation field around this room and we will never get out of it with him in here" he said as he motioned toward shadow man  
  
"Uh wily? What's he doing" rockman said as he looked at shadow man, who had began glowing.  
  
"I.don't know" wily whispered. His eyes widened as he realized what he was doing" that's quickmans eos!" he said franticly" but ho- o no quickman must have transferred it with his weapons data!" wily looked at shadow mans sword, which was also glowing" that virus must give him tremendous energy" he said," he's using two eos's at once"  
  
"DIE EVERYONE DIE" shadowman screamed  
  
Red flames spiraled from the ground until they met just above his head, and a similar thing happened with his sword as black flames came from the hilt. The flames suddenly merged and he and his blade were covered in black and red flames that danced with each other around his body. In a fraction of a second he was in the middle of the huge group of robot masters and cut them in two in less then five seconds, using his shadow strike to cut through the shielded ones. When all the robot masters fall to the ground in pieces he turned to rockman and wily. Rockman tried to fire and dodge an anticipated attack but shadowman was simply to fast. Though he did manage to avoid a fatal blow, as the strike wasn't deep enough to damage any vital organs or circuitry. The swing sent rockman into the wall where he lay unmoving. Ignoring his injured opponent he grabbed wily by the neck and slammed him against the wall.  
  
"As much as id like to torture you to death I'm afraid I don't have the time" he growled as he raised his sword, putting the end of the blade against his creators neck  
  
"P please" wily pleaded" please don't kill me, please!" he sobbed" ill do anything just please don't kill me!"  
  
"Sorry wily but I wont be here to make sure you do it" shadowman said as he brought his arm back slightly.  
  
He was about to thrust his blade into wilys neck when the glow in his eye, which had begun to dim, began flickering back to there original color  
  
"NO" he shouted" NOT NOW, NOT WHEN IM SO CLOSE" he struggled to kill wily and not kill him at the same time.  
  
Slowly the light faded and the virus lost more and more control. Letting go of wily and dropping his sword he stumbled backwards, clutching his head  
  
"NO" he screamed" I HAVE TO KILL HIM"  
  
While he was thrashing about rockman crawled out of the hole in the wall he had ben in and ran over to wily, who was bleeding from his forhead from being slammed against the wall.  
  
"Ill live" he grumbled  
  
They were both startled when shadow man stopped thrashing around. They both looked at him as he slumped to his knees.  
  
He looked up at them, his eyes no longer flickering but glowing very dimly" you cant stop me" he whispered" you may purge me from this body.but ill be back"  
  
His the glow fluttered a little more before fading back to there normal color  
  
Shadowman groaned," what happened?" he asked  
  
~three months later~  
  
Shadowman, the entire light family, and forte all stood with there heads lowered on top of a hill near light labs, in front of a statue overlooking the city. The statue was of had a large stone about 4 feet tall with a life-sized quickman statue on it. He was kneeling on one knee he held his boomerang, the original quick mans boomerang. With both his hands on one end and the other resting on the stone underneath it. Its middle bend was pointing away from quickman, towards the city. His head was lowered, resting in the middle bend of his boomerang. His eyes were closed. On the base there was an enscription  
  
From slave to hero  
  
"He was a great boiroid" protoman said  
  
"No" shadow man said" he was a reploid. The first reploid" the others all nodded  
  
"So shadowman" rockman said" what will you do now?" he asked  
  
shadowman didn't answer for a moment then replied" I don't know"  
  
"You know my offer is still good" rockman said  
  
".Would you really take me in after what I did?" he asked  
  
"Sure" roll chimed" you didn't have control of what you did. the virus was controlling you and its gone now"  
  
"What if it isn't? What if it's just hiding in my systems?" he asked  
  
"I can do a scan of your systems to make sure if you like" Dr. light said  
  
There was another silence as they waited for an answer  
  
".Alright" shadowman sighed  
  
"Then...shall we go?" Dr. light asked  
  
They all nodded and began walking back to light labs  
  
"Hey rock" forte shouted" don't think I'm gonna stop trying to beat you" he said as he teleported off  
  
"I'm afraid I can't stay either" protoman said as he teleported without leaving an explanation of why, though they were lucky he even told them he was leaving.  
  
~meenwhile in a federal prison~  
  
Wily grumbled as he sat in a maximum-security cell, isolated from all the other prisoners  
  
"Grr dam you, dam you all! I will have my revenge. Even if its not until after I'm dead! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"  
  
"Hey!" a guard shouted" quite down in there or you'll get no desert tonight"  
  
"Ill be good" wily said sitting back down  
  
________________________________  
  
Well everyone that's it. That's the last chapter, the big finale, and the epilogue. Don't expect this to be the end of my writings, I've still got more ideas that I could possible put down in one lifetime so expect to see more of me . Also expect to see more of shadowman as I will probably write more fics around what happens to him and the others in the future. PLEASE review I need some feedback, I need to know what you people think of my writing. I don't care if it's a good or a bad review just please review. Well until my next fic, peace  
  
Ps: I couldn't resist putting in that last part I just felt the story had ben a little dark and needed to lighten the mood a little. 


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